Visiting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan revealed Monday that the world body had decided to establish a suitable mechanism for implementing the recommendations by the high-level group of the Alliance of Civilizations.

Annan made the remarks at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero after the alliance's high-level group meeting held in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey.

The alliance, launched in November 2005 by Spain and Turkey, aims to encourage dialogue between Western and Islamic societies.

Annan told the reporters that the Alliance of Civilizations could be activated as soon as the difficult situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine were resolved.

Existing foreign troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would not remain there forever, which would have to leave after a certain time, Annan said.

For his part, Zapatero highlighted significance of the meeting for both Muslim and Western worlds, saying the participates had reached an important agreement that everyone should be respectful to different religions by acknowledging their importance and existence.

"People from different cultures have waged a war against fanaticism and intolerance. We will fight against fanaticism and intolerance through tolerance and dialogue. We will prevent acts of fanatics," he vowed.

Zapatero left Turkey after the press conference.

Source: Xinhua