COPENHAGEN, February 23, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Denmark has welcomed an initiative by Muslim preacher Amr Khaled to visit the Scandinavian country with a host of Muslim youth to engage in a dialogue with Danish youths and intellectuals and is planning a series of initiatives to build bridges with the Muslim world after the controversy sparked by the Danish cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).

"I share and appreciate this positive message, and I am pleased that Amr Khaled will be able to practice such dialogue in Copenhagen in the near future," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller said in a statement issued on Wednesday, February 22, and obtained by IslamOnline.net.

Khaled told a press conference on February 17, that the initiative is meant to highlight four main issues about the Prophet and the Islamic faith.

"They will explain four main things: Who our prophet is, what Islam is all about, freedom of expression in Muslim eyes and respect of the other's holy scriptures," he said.

Twelve cartoons, one of them showing the Prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were first published in September by Denmark 's mass-circulation daily Jyllands-Posten, and later reprinted by newspapers in many countries on the ground of freedom of expression.

That argument has been rejected by Muslims who believe it should not be used as a pretext to insult their religion.

The caricatures, considered blasphemous under Islam, have triggered massive and sometimes violent demonstrations across the Muslim world.

Denmark's top diplomat said his country will launch a series of initiatives to promote dialogue with the Muslim world following the cartoon row.

"We will launch a series of forward-looking initiatives aimed at promoting respectful dialogue.

"These initiatives, whether national, bilateral or multilateral, will echo many good pieces of advice that we have received from friends in the Muslim world."

Moller said the government will offer financial contributions to the UN-established Alliance of Civilizations.

The Alliance of Civilizations, championed by Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Spanish counterpart José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, aims at promoting East-West dialogue.

Moller said Denmark was also considering ways of supporting a conference on combating prejudice and misconception.

"The government has taken the initiative to organize a festival in Copenhagen on the 'image of Islam'.

"We are also planning an ambitious festival on the Middle East and Islamic culture."

The minister said these initiatives aim to increase mutual understanding between the West and the Muslim world.

"We in Denmark and Europe have become crucially aware of vital religious sensibilities in the Muslim world.

"The important thing now is to build bridges – not to burn them."

The cartoon controversy has prompted Muslim minorities in the West to champion local campaigns to promote awareness of the messenger of God.