162. The Conference stressed the importance of sustainable development for the Member States. It acknowledged the importance of integrated water resources management, including "water-energy-food nexus approach", for supporting and strengthening the political dialogue and cooperation among OIC Member States. Access to affordable and clean energy in developing countries is crucial for achieving sustainable development. 163. The Conference stressed that culture must be used as a leverage for a sustainable and inclusive development, along with the Islamic values, and the most important action is to mainstream culture as a strategic tool for achieving OIC goals; Therefore, it commended the efforts of the OIC Secretary General for his initiatives aiming at promotion and defending unified position on issues of common interest, including the dialogue among civilizations and religions; promoting interfaith harmony, tolerance and non-discrimination; to safeguard historic and Islamic character of the holy places as well as Islamic cultural and civilizational heritages. 164. The Conference expressed appreciation to the Government of the Islamic Republic of the Gambia for hosting the 8th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) on 4th - 6th December 2013 in Banjul, and welcomed the outcome of the conference, which included inter alia, considerations and decisions on the Progress Report on the Implementation of the Framework for Development and Cooperation in the domain of Tourism between the OIC member states as well as its recommendations, and the draft Mechanism and Criteria for the Selection of OIC City of Tourism and the draft Mechanism and Criteria for the Award of OIC Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts, as well as the proposed establishment of the Heritage Centre for Islamic Countries. The Conference, therefore called on OIC Member States to implement these decisions in order to promote the Islamic culture, traditions and values within the Muslim Ummah and beyond in order to safeguard Islamic Civilization for the future generations of the Ummah. 165. The Conference appreciated the initiative of the Kyrgyz Republic to host the first and unique in its kind, World Nomads Games which took place from 8 to 14 September, 2014 and calls on Member States to accede to the participation and conduct of the Games on a regular basis that would be a real contribution to the cultural and sporting integration of member countries. In addition, the Conference have taken note that the Second World Nomads Games will be held from 3 to 9 September 2016 in Kyrgyzstan on the shores of mountain Lake Issyk-Kul. 166. The Conference called on all Member States to challenge the exacerbation of anti-Muslim sentiments which intensified stereotypes, generalizations about Muslims as well as collective punishment on all Muslims, by issuing clear statements that the Muslim World does not condone the violent acts of marginal, misguided individuals claiming to speak or act in the name of Islam, and to encourage Muslim community members living in western societies to track and monitor anti-Muslim incidents in all strata of the society. 167. The Conference encouraged all Member States and their civil society to step up their counter-Islamophobia measures by promoting dialogue with the international community at both multilateral and bilateral levels, and to engage with the West in order to build a political will and commitment to entering into a higher level of serious dialogue in order to generate reconciliation between faiths, cultures and civilizations. 168. The Conference called on all Member States to increase the role of religious and community leaders to curb tendencies of extremism and Islamophobia by promoting the ideals of tolerance, moderation, mutual respect and peaceful co-existence, and to strengthen existing mechanisms for intra-Islam dialogue in order to help avoiding misperceptions and promote better understanding and mutual respect, and to speed-up the implementation of the proposal made by the Late King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz during the 4th Extraordinary Summit, held in Makkah in 2012, to establish a center for dialogue among Islamic schools of thought to reach a common understanding. The Conference welcomed the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions which aims to foster a culture of tolerance and mutual respect, as opposed to the ideology of hatred and extremism. --More 20:29 LOCAL TIME 17:29 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w