Madrid - Dialogue between religions can play an important role in the fight against problems ranging from terrorism to hunger, Spain's King Juan Carlos said Wednesday on opening the World Conference on Dialogue, a major inter-faith event in Madrid.

The meeting should help to move towards "a world which finishes forever with the unacceptable savagery of terrorism, which fights hunger, disease and poverty" and defends the environment, Juan Carlos said at the ceremony also attended by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.

Muslim World League Secretary-General Abdullah al-Turki said the conference should not be "sterile" like other similar events, but to produce concrete projects with follow-up plans.

Other guests at the inauguration included Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Around 200 Muslim, Christian and Jewish clergy and other experts on inter-religious dialogue were expected at the three-day meeting sponsored by Saudi Arabia in what was seen as a ground-breaking move for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom. (dpa)