‘Cooperation among independent States vital’:

Sri Lanka and Iran for a new world order

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Mahinda Rajapaksa have stressed the need for a new world order at their meeting over the weekend.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio, Brazil.

“Cooperation among independent States is essential for their progress forward; the justice-seeking nations should cooperate to design a new global order; those who are behind today’s problems do not deserve designing the new order,” the two leaders said.

“Independent States are under great pressure from hegemonic powers but they should understand the fact that the pressure including the sanctions and resolutions will not affect the nations’ desire to resist; the biggest violators of human rights use the issue as an excuse to confront sovereign nations.”

“Arrogant powers use environmental issues too as an excuse to pressure developing nations but if they were real defenders of the environment they would change their polluting technologies.”

The Iranian president said that those who are afraid of change of the current world order are designing plots to weaken independent States and prevent their progress; the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran is an opportunity to take positive steps in favour of independent nations; Today’s world lacks independent movements and NAM has the capacity to fill the gap, he said.

Ahmadinejad also said that Iran is committed to expand cooperation with Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa for his part, welcomed the development of bilateral relations with Iran, noting that NAM should become stonger to confront the pressure posed by arrogant powers.

“The holding of the NAM summit in Tehran can boost its role in the international community,” he said.

The two leaders left Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro city after participating in the Rio+20 UN Conference, for the Venezuelan capital city Caracas to visit and confer with the country’s top officials on issues of mutual interest.

In Venezuela they were scheduled to meet President Hugo Chavez, where they would discuss and exchange ideas on regional and international issues.

The 16th summit of the NAM member States will be held in Tehran from August 26-31. Iran will receive the rotating presidency of the movement from Egypt for three years during the Tehran summit.

NAM comprises some 120 member States and 17 observer countries. It represents nearly two-thirds of the UN members.

The Non-Aligned Movement is the largest grouping of countries outside the United Nations, aimed at giving a voice to the developing world. The organisation was founded in the former Yugoslavia in 1955. NAM’s 118 member States represent around 56 percent of the world’s population. The movement also has 17 observer members. The purpose of the organisation as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure ‘the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries.”

The Iranian President addressed the first day meeting of the UN sponsored conference and proposed ideas for a new world order, including the participation of entire world nations and those governments which are the representatives of their people in world management.

IRNA