Iranian president urges restructuring of global order

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again underscored the need for restructuring the current world order as the existing system lags over its propensity to uphold colonialism.

Former colonial and slave-trading governments that today deceptively preach about freedom and democracy have the extreme tendency of reviving the colonialist era when they robbed the wealth and riches of nations, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America, thus setting the scene for current conflicts and crises in the world, said President Ahmadinejad in a Thursday address to the 12th meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

Economic crises have spilled over the world and are on the verge of turning into social and political crises, said the president, blaming it on the “inefficient and discriminatory system” that has dominated the globe.

Noting that states like China, India, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, and other SCO members are rapidly making great economic advances, the Iranian chief executive reiterated that extensive plans by the US-led NATO states for an eastward expansion to halt this progress and revive the past colonialist order have become quite obvious.

Ahmadinejad pointed out that NATO’s expansion eastward is meant to impede the development of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, stressing on the need for developing new systems independent of the dominant one.

He emphasized that the US-led wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq are part of such “sophisticated scheming,” but the current order has failed “due to its unjust and inhumane features” and is approaching its end.

President Ahmadinejad then suggested to his fellow SCO leaders that to achieve such objectives, “we need to distance ourselves from the current order and make new arrangements.”

The Iranian president specifically offered the following four proposals to SCO leaders:

1- Build regional and international collaboration among member states and those nations that seek a just and humane global order.

2- Expand economic cooperation and design and implement new monetary and financial systems.

3- Establish international financial, monetary and economic institutions outside the dominancy of hegemonic powers.

4- Promote cultural and political ties towards the expansion of friendship and harmony to counter the insistence of others on sowing discord and divisiveness.

Expounding on his proposals, President Ahmadinejad said, “We must realize that colonialist powers are opposed to China’s progress to the same extent they resist the growth of Russia, India, Iran, Pakistan and other SCO member states.”

He added that if SCO members cut their monetary ties with the dominant currency in global economic interactions, they would thus save a great portion of their national interests and resources from “flowing freely to the pockets of hegemonic powers.”

The president, who has on different occasions called for an overhaul in the global order, further urged investments among member states as a matter that would benefit all concerned parties.

Iran’s top executive concluded his remarks by reiterating Islamic Republic’s readiness to expand its cooperation “at the highest level” and support all of SCO’s “just and humane objectives.”

President Ahmadinejad arrived in China on Tuesday evening, leading a high-ranking delegation, to participate in the 12th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The SCO is an intergovernmental security organization that was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Iran, India, Mongolia, Afghanistan and Pakistan are observer states of the organization.