The Tiber Institute, an organization based in Rome which promotes intercultural and interfaith dialogue, organized the dinner at a hotel in Rome's city center. The dinner was attended by nearly 200 guests, including representatives from nongovernmental organizations supporting interfaith dialogue, clerics, academics and journalists as well as ambassadors of various countries to the Vatican. The undersecretary from the Turkish Embassy to the Vatican, Deniz Kılıçer, was also present at the dinner.

Delivering a speech at the dinner, the chairman of Tiber Institute, Ahmet Eren Kademoğlu, recalled that the institute has been organizing fast-breaking dinners during Ramadan for three years. “We would like to thank you all for being together with us today as we have the opportunity to show you our friendship and hospitality,” he said.

Khaled Akasheh, the head officer for Islam on the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, took the stage following Kademoğlu to read the message released on Sept. 11 by the Vatican as Muslims prepare to celebrate the feast of Eid al-Fitr. After Akasheh read the message bearing the signature of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, Mustafa Cenap Aydın from the Tiber Institute commented on the message, which called on Christians and Muslims to cooperate in efforts to overcome poverty in the world. Noting that efforts for interreligious dialogue have considerably improved relations between different religions, he recalled that various Christian organizations lent a helping hand to quake victims when the Aug. 17, 1999, disaster hit Turkey.

At the dinner, a Turkish surgeon, Professor Şerif Ali Tekalan, and Michele Zanzucchi, an Italian journalist who is a member of Focolare movement in Rome, also delivered speeches. “In today's world we also need fasting to avoid television, the Internet and mobile phones. We would like to thank to our Muslim brothers for reminding us about abstinence,” said Zanzucchi who is the author of the book “L'Islam che non fa paura” (The Islam that Doesn't Frighten).