Egypt Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb arrived on Tuesday in Paris where he is expected to meet with French President Francois Hollande to discuss efforts to fight extremism and terrorism.
The Grand Imam attended the second forum of eastern and western elders where he addressed Europeans and all Muslims around the world, stressing the importance of dialogue and building trust between religions and cultures.
During his speech, Al-Tayeb stressed the importance of how people of every nation should adopt ideas of coexistence - which will in the future lead to maintaining the identity of any religion - rather than thinking to preserve minorities' rights.
"I call on all Muslim citizens in Europe that they must know they are native citizens in their communities, and that full citizenship will never contradict the idea of coexistence," said El-Tayeb.
This week's events are considered to be the forum's second meeting, following a meeting which took place in the Italian city of Florence in June 2015.
Al-Tayeb arrived in the French capital following a historic meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Monday. The unprecedented meeting of the two religious leaders signaled the renewal of relations between Al-Azhar and the Vatican following five-years of suspended relations.
France is home to 4-5 million Muslims out of a population of 66 million.
In March, El-Tayeb visited Berlin where he met with top clerics in Germany's Catholic church and addressed the Bundestag, urging religious tolerance.
Last Novemebr, the Al-Azhar grand imam denounced the deadly terror attacks carried out by Islamist militants in Paris, describing them as "hideous" and "hateful" and urging the international community to work towards combating terrorism.
