Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged Central Asian nations to create a new world order that ends the domination of what he called the "enslavers and colonizers of the past" - a reference to Western powers.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (center)
Ahmadinejad was speaking Wednesday at the opening of a
regional summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Kazakh
capital, Astana. Addressing the summit as an observer, he said all of the
participating nations have a history of avoiding conflicts and together can
bring peace to the world.
The SCO is a regional security and economic forum whose members include China,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Several nations
participate as observers, including Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia.
The Iranian president used much of his summit speech to blame unnamed Western
countries for global instability. After the summit, Russia says President Dmitry
Medvedev urged Mr. Ahmadinejad to take a "more constructive approach" in
resolving a dispute with six world powers about the Iranian nuclear program.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Mr. Medvedev also called on the
Iranian president to improve the transparency of his contacts with the United
Nations nuclear agency. The Russian president made the appeals in a three-way
meeting with Ahmadinejad and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Six major powers, Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany,
have been trying to persuade Iran to stop sensitive nuclear work in return for
diplomatic incentives, but the talks have been stalled for months.
In private talks ahead of the summit Tuesday, Chinese President Hu Jintao also
urged Ahmadinejad to resume the six-nation talks, saying Iranian steps to
establish trust and promote dialogue would be in the interest not only of Iran
but of the Middle East as a whole.
Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover
of a civilian energy program. Lavrov says Ahmadinejad told his Russian
counterpart that Iran has no intention of becoming nuclear-armed.
During Wednesday's summit, Russia appeared to win support from other SCO members
for its criticism of U.S. plans for a missile defense shield in Europe. In a
declaration, the bloc said the "unilateral and unlimited" build-up of missile
defense systems by one state or narrow group of states could "damage" global
security.
The declaration did not mention any nation specifically. The United States has
said its proposed European missile defense shield is meant to protect the region
from potential attack by Iranian missiles. But Russia fears the system will
weaken its nuclear deterrent.
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