Alwaght-Iran's President Sayed Ibrahim Raisi attended a summit of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan. He delivered his address to the leaders and delegations of the bloc members on Friday. Here are some highlights:
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a symbol of the great civilizational family of the old Asian continent. Asia has the biggest capacity to make global peace. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is the symbol of this great family of civilizations, now stands in a position that can build new horizons of regional integration and security-building cooperation based on characteristics such as justice, spirituality and respect for human dignity.
- Maximum interaction and coordination with the regional states and organizations including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the focus of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy. In addition to playing a role in ensuring stability and security in the region, especially in dealing with takfiri terrorism and extremism, drug smuggling, and other forms of international organized crime, as well as hosting millions of refugees from neighboring countries, the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategy is based on deepening economic multilateralism.
- The American unilateralism seeks to hold countries back from their independent development path. In recent years, economic and political multilateralism has been seriously threatened, and the American government is trying to impose its domestic demands and laws on the international system and sovereign and independent countries, and the extensive use of the lever of coercion is on its agenda.
- The financing of logistics and trade facilitation projects in the organization should be prioritized. Following international developments, member countries have turned to trade with each other more than before. This opportunity has arisen in a situation where infrastructural weaknesses can prevent the rapid development of trade between members. To overcome this challenge, in the field of financial infrastructure, it is necessary to prioritize the financing of logistics and trade facilitation projects. The mechanism of interbank exchanges and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Financing can play an important role.
- Iran's transit capacities serve to strengthen transportation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Along with financial-banking cooperation, I would like to highlight the important areas of transportation and energy security as two key and important areas for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Despite the impressive potentials, infrastructural connections in the field of transit between the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are not so extensive. Iran gives special priority to the development of the North-South Corridor and has made huge investments.
- The Islamic Republic of Iran announces its readiness to host the Shanghai Health Sector Cooperation Secretariat and hereby invites the ministers of the member countries to hold the first meeting of the Shanghai Health Sector in December of this year.
- Iran is ready to play an effective role energy provision. The world's largest energy producers are present in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization along with the major energy consuming economies. Other member countries also have great advantages of energy transit between production centers and consumption centers. This combination can form a diverse and effective cooperation in the field of energy.
- Asia security should be based on the multilateralism without foreign interference. During the past few decades, our region has witnessed the bitter taste of foreign intervention and the result has been nothing but the creation of terrorism and the spread of insecurity. The result is the situation we are currently facing in Afghanistan. Not only has the United States not learned from its failure in Afghanistan, but it continues to spread insecurity and intervene in other Asian regions.
- NATO policies represents a threat to various regions. Syria and Afghanistan crises should give lessons. NATO's pursuit of its policies in any way poses a threat to different regions. The establishment of peace, stability and security in the Caucasus region is very important for the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have always emphasized on respecting territorial integrity, national sovereignty and rejecting any changes in the recognized borders between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. The parties should resolve their differences through dialogue and peacefully based on international law.
