PARIS, April 18 (IslamOnline.net) - The 20th session of the Islamic organizations' conference opened in the French capital on Friday, April 18, with 100,000 Muslims living in France and other European countries expected to show up for the three-day gala.

"The conference acquires this year a great significance given the historical institution of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM)," Al-Tuhami Ibriz, head of the Islamic organizations told IslamOnline.net.

Noticeably, the gala is entitled "Islam… From Understanding to Application" and takes place at a time Muslim minorities in the West are facing challenges of integration into the milieu of their societies," according to Ibriz.

He regretted that the event coincide with the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq and the sufferings of its people.

The CFCM is the first recognized national council for the country's estimated five million Muslims, which now has two years to establish its credibility.

Some 4,000 voters from nearly 1,000 mosques cast ballots on Sunday, April 6, to choose members of the general assembly and central committee of the council as well as 25 regional bodies.

"We want to rid Islam in France of foreign influences," Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio.

"Imams who make statements that run contrary to the values of the republic will be deported."

The meeting is to feature 24 lectures given by a host of politicians, intellectuals and scientists, the most important are Mahfouz Nehnah of Algeria's Peace Society Movement and famous Egyptian preacher Amr Khaled, who is expected to deliver two lectures.

Book and product fairs and Koran recitation contests are to be organized on the sidelines of the event whose last year's visitors hit 57,000 thousands, an indication of growing weight for Islam in Europe in general and France in particular.