Rouhani: Muslim world’s capability, stability contribute to world progress
September 10, 2017 - Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said that Muslim world’s capability, progress and stability lead to global capability, progress and stability.
Rouhani made the remarks in an address to the first Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on science and technology in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Sunday.
“We have all reached a consensus that the Muslim world is a crucial and effective part of the system of the universe, and its capability, progress and stability lead to global capability, progress and stability,” said President Rouhani, as reported by Press TV.
He underlined the need for unity and cooperation among Muslim countries as the key to rid the world of violence and reach permanent peace.
Rouhani said weakness, backwardness and disunity among Muslim countries would make sustainable peace, inclusive development and effective conversion impossible to reach.
“Therefore, consensus, concord and cooperation among members of the great Islamic world, in order to enter the developed world, is a joint effort to build a world free of ignorance, poverty, war and violence,” he added.
He also stressed that cooperation in the field of science and technology has strategic political and social significance.
Today, he said, the Muslim world feels the need for solidarity and unity more than ever as it is grappling with multiple crises, such as Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, atrocities by Buddhist extremists against Rohingya in Myanmar, humanitarian catastrophes created by extremist groups in Syria and Iraq and the continuation of the Saudi war on Yemen.
“I am honored to represent a nation which has been the pioneer of knowledge and culture in two civilizational eras of pre-Islamic and post-Islamic human history. Iran in the Achaemenid and Sassanid periods was the cradle of generating knowledge and culture and it was a hub for the expansion of knowledge, literature and management in the world. The Iranian spirit attracted scientists, businessmen and architects from all over the world, through creating a political and social environment based on ethics and human rights, and paved the way for the creation of vivid sites of human civilization in Persepolis, and a treasury of books in Asian libraries,” said President Rouhani.
The Iranian president said the OIC summit had the potential to be turned into a milestone in the history of scientific cooperation in the Muslim world.
“Let’s put aside divisions being sowed by the enemies of Islam and warmongering powers, who see their benefit in dividing us, and open new grounds for scientific and technological cooperation as well as further renovation of our countries,” he said.
Rouhani also expressed the Islamic Republic’s readiness to cooperate with all Muslim countries and nations in the area of science, technology and innovation.