Cambodia on Wednesday opened the two-day 17th annual Congress of Religion in Phnom Penh to monitor the improvement of morality and behavior in the religious field and its role for reducing poverty.

"The religion field has contributed strongly to the social and political stability of the country and helped the society improve its morality, environment and poverty reduction," said Senate President Chea Sim at the opening ceremony.

"From now on, there is a good chance for us that we all join together to keep the peace and harmony of the country and stick to non-violent way to advance the society," he added.

Meanwhile, Minister of Cults and Religious Affairs Min Khin said that Cambodia not only takes care of Buddhism which is the major religion of the country, but also other sects.

Cambodia has 4,307 Buddhist pagodas with 55,583 monks, 4 Buddhist universities and 12 Buddhist high schools, he said.

The kingdom also has 320,167 Muslims with 244 mosques and 333 Islamist schools, some 800,000 Christians and about 20,000 people with other religious believes, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)