Raisi stresses on cooperation to promote development, security in SCO
5 Min Read
The Iranian President highlights Iran's perspective on issues of security, economy, and unity, as he speaks for the first time after Iran's accession into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi attends a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Tehran, Iran, July 4, 2023. (Iranian Presidency/Handout)
Speaking for the first time after Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), President Ebrahim Raisi highlighted the importance of the move during the 23rd Council of Heads of States in India.
Raisi highlighted the important role which Asian countries should play in terms of promoting their ancient civilizations, ethics, spirituality, and understanding of justice, all of which can be achieved through the SCO.
The Iranian President said, "Now that this ancient continent has recovered, it must once again become a civilization-building by relying on ethics, spirituality, justice, rationality, and respect for human dignity." The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is a symbol of this "great family of civilizations, is now standing in a position that can establish new horizons of regional convergence and security-building cooperation."
Raisi emphasized the shared respect for values and sanctities between the nations of the SCO, which act as a unifying principle in the organization. He also raised the issue of the desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden, as he contrasted European countries' actions with such incidents to those displayed by "civilized nations" of the SCO.
To start off his speech, Raisi thanked the Indian Prime Minister who presided over the virtual meeting as well as the other member states who attended the summit. He also expressed his satisfaction with the process in which Iran was accepted as the ninth member of the organization.
The Iranian President underlined the role which the SCO will play in promoting the development of political, security, and economic cooperation between its member states.
"In particular, I hope that Iran's presence in this important and influential organization will provide a platform for collective security, lead to sustainable development, expand links and communications, strengthen unity, respect the sovereignty of countries more than ever before, and provide synergies to deal with environmental threats," he further explained.
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Raisi then listed Iran's perspectives on 6 key levels: security, economy, strengthening links, unity, respect for the sovereignty of nations, and environment.
Talking about security, the President stressed the cruciality of cooperation when it comes to security issues in the region as he described them as "endogenous" matters that come as part of a collective achievement. He also highlighted the role which indigenous nations through the will of their governments should play to promote sustainable peace in their territories, adding that this would achieve "far from the intervention of the dominating powers.
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Regarding the economy, Raisi said that Iran will continue to support constructive initiatives such as the "Global Development Initiative", adding that it seeks to expand cooperation in the fields of energy, technology, industrial agriculture, trade, and commerce, which will promote economic security and development in the face of Western sanctions. The President also stressed the need to expand the use of national currencies as alternatives to the US dollar in international trade, welcoming the creation of new instruments for financial payments.
Raisi said that Iran is willing to cooperate with countries of the SCO in the field of advanced technologies and share its discoveries on scientific production, technology, biotechnology, medicine, nano, engineering, electronics, and defense with the member states.
As for strengthening links, he emphasized the importance of expanding transit and transportation links between countries of the Eurasian region, as a pillar of economic development. He also reaffirmed Iran's support for initiatives such as the North-South Corridor and the Belt-Road Project
Regarding unity, the Iranian head of state said that the SCO should prioritize strengthening cultural ties to boost the progressive norms of its member states in the face of Western norms.
While discussing the respect for the sovereignty of nations, Raisi emphasized that "real multilateralism is for the benefit of the nations and not for the [imperialist] powers" to achieve the common good of different nations. He also took a dig at the US which is celebrating its anniversary on July 4, saying that it "violates the independence of many countries and has denied the right to self-determination from many nations, especially the Palestinian nation."
As for the environment, the Iranian President brought to light the issue of climate change and the cruciality of tackling this issue which has led to the lack of water resources, air warming, and soil erosion. He underscored the need to work on multilateral cooperation to set rules and regulations to tackle climate change and prevent tensions from arising over the lack of water resources.
