TEHRAN Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, who is in New York to attend the United Nations' Conference to Fight Illegal Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons, met with the special envoy of the United Nations' secretary general for "dialogue among civilizations" in the UN on Tuesday.

The two sides discussed issues related to the UN Public Forum's programs on the Year of "Dialogue Among Civilizations", in the meeting.

The UN envoy appreciated Iran for its efforts to pave the way for an international cooperation in this regard, and called on all the countries should cooperate with the UN in order to implement the programs.

For his part, kharrazi thanked the UN envoy for his efforts and announced his country's readiness for cooperation with the UN in this regard.

Meanwhile Iranian foreign minister made a speech entitled "Democracy in Iran: Messages and Policies" before more than 300 professors, researchers and students of the Colombia University.

Addressing the university officials, Kharrazi said that in Iran, a religious democracy has been established on the basis of a humanitarian view. He also added that what this kind of democracy presents in the field of foreign policy is mutual respect, noninterference in the other countries' domestic affairs, detente as well as a social participation on the basis of international regulations and common agreements.

Referring to the idea of "dialogue among civilizations", he said that through a culture based dialogue, all the world's problems, including military involvements, insecurity as well as social and economic confusions, would be eliminated, IRNA reported.

The initiative of "dialogue among civilizations" was put forth by the Iranian President Seyyed Mohammad Khatami in 1997 which was later ratified by all member countries of the UN.