Deputy Speaker Hawrami and MPs visit Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs
As part of a series of recent visits to institutions to monitor the government’s work, Kurdistan Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Dr. Hemin Hawrami on 16 February led MPs in a meeting with the KRG Minister of Endowment & Religious Affairs Dr. Pshtewan Sadq. MPs from the Parliament Committee on Endowments and Religious Affairs took part in the meeting.
On behalf of Parliament’s Presidency, Dr. Hawrami thanked Minister Dr. Pshtiwan Sadq and his colleagues for their cooperation with Parliament’s committees.
He said that Parliament places great importance on strengthening the religious coexistence between all communities in Kurdistan Region, on the ministry's implementation of the Reform Law and of the KRG ninth cabinet’s manifesto, on cutting bureaucracy, comprehensive reform of administration and finance, and delegation of powers.
Minister Pshtiwan Sadq gave an overview of the ministry's work in the past, their measures to implement the Reform Law, and the peaceful coexistence among all communities of which Kurdistan Region is proud and determined to maintain.
Minister Sadq explained that their work is informed by the recommendations of a major 2016 conference on religion which paved the way for organizing sermons, pilgrimages, Umrah, property and strengthening religious coexistence.
He also explained the opening of a Kurdistan institute for developing preachers and sermons, establishing a new institute with the cooperation of the Ministry of Higher Education, instructions for the development of hujras (religious schools), and the issue of memorization of the Holy Koran.
Other topics were creating a distinctive Kurdish style for mosques, developing the voice, holding a Haj conference, property reform legislation, waqf (charitable donation of property) according to the law, and monitoring volunteer religious speakers in line with the instructions for sermons.
The MPs asked questions about various areas of the ministry's responsibilities, and stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation with Parliament’s committees.