ABU DHABI- The Zayed House for Islamic Culture, ZHIC, has registered one million participants in the "Covenant for Million Tolerant" e-initiative launched last April as part of the Year of Tolerance programmes, aimed at promoting the values of tolerance within the UAE community.

According to statistics, visitors to the e-platform reached 1,300,000, of which 68 percent were males and 32 percent were females. The participants were from various nationalities from across 200 countries, with the overall proportion of local participants to other nationalities being 51 to 49 percent, respectively.

Moreover, 116 UAE ministries, institutions, companies and private sector entities took part in the ZHIC initiative to urge their employees to participate in the Covenant. It also received support from officials and dignitaries across social networking sites, where 69 officials signed the Covenant. This is in addition to 265 public schools, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge.

The ZHIC General Director, Dr. Nedal al Tinaiji, said the Covenant was aimed at realising the aspirations and directives of the wise leadership, to spread and establish the values of tolerance, love and charitable deeds throughout society. This is in addition to fostering mutual respect, coexistence and harmony for community development and stability, as per the policies set by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Dr. al Tinaiji added that participation outside the UAE reached 28 percent, reflecting the strong interest abroad due to the reputation enjoyed by the UAE, instilled by the founding fathers and established by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, through his leadership for progress and development. Dr. al Tinaiji pointed out that the message embedded in the Covenant is for an individual to be tolerant with himself/herself, with other individuals and the community. The initiative is in line with the numerous events sponsored by the ZHIC as part of its project, "Emirates of Tolerance", in conjunction with the Year of Tolerance.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2019.