With today's meeting which was held in a positive and open atmosphere, we have made a first step forward in building bridges of confidence between Europe and the Muslim-populated world, the Austrian minister told a news conference in Vienna after the meeting.
It is urgent that we support dialogue between cultures and religions and strengthen dialogue with Muslims in Europe as well as dialogue between Europe and the Muslim world, Plassnik said.
She added that freedom of expression of opinion is a fundamental right in Western democracies with the respect for different religions and cultures.
The Vienna meeting was held after controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, which initially appeared in a Danish paper, outraged Muslims worldwide.
The Austrian minister condemned attacks on European embassies and offices in some countries in Muslim-populated parts of the world.
Any form of violence is absolutely unacceptable to us, she said adding that recent events unfortunately had shown that there was a lack of dialogue between the West and the Islamic world.
This is a challenge to both sides and we must not let extremists have the last word, she added.
That's why it is important to promote dialogue between different cultures and religions, the Austrian official said adding that her country was planning to take additional initiatives for this purpose while it was chairing the EU.
Other participants in the Vienna meeting were the head of the Islamic community in Bosnia, Mustafa Ceric, the Syrian Grand Mufti, Ahmad Bader Hassoun, their counterpart from Austria, Anas Shakfeh, and the top dignitary of the Danish Christian Church, Steen Skovsgaard.