Pezeshkian: New bonds needed to advance D-8 shared interests
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday urged the group of D-8 countries to “forge new bonds” to foster development and advance shared interests during a summit in the Egyptian capital Cairo.
“The importance of maintaining friendships and forging new bonds through multilateral cooperation among Islamic countries, based on development and the pursuit of shared interests, is felt more than ever,” Pezeshkian told the gathering of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as the Developing-8.
According to IRNA, Pezeshkian also called on D-8 member states to move multilateralism and set up what he called “smart economic and trade networks.”
He further said that Iran was ready to undertake joint actions within the framework of the D-8 to collectively support young entrepreneurs.
The Iranian president suggested that the D-8 Technology Transfer Network, with its secretariat located at Pardis Technology Park in Tehran, could be key in advancing joint youth-related initiatives.
Pezeshkian, however, expressed concern that member states still had a long way to go to reach the D-8’s 2030 vision.
He also announced that the next meeting of the “D-8 Permanent Committee on Communications and Information Technology” would soon be hosted by Iran and that Tehran could begin working on this directive in collaboration with the member states.
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation is a group for developing cooperation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Leading a high-profile delegation, President Pezeshkian flew to Cairo on Wednesday to take part in the D-8 summit. It was the first visit by an Iranian president to Egypt in 11 years.
Stopping Israeli aggression
Later in the day, Pezeshkian addressed a meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip on the sidelines of the D-8 summit where he said the top priority for the West Asian countries must be to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza and attacks on Lebanon and Syria.
“Today, we have gathered under circumstances where the West Asia region is experiencing a sensitive, complex, and unstable situation,” he said, according to Press TV.
Pezeshkian stressed that acts of aggression by the occupying regime in the past year have not only deprived the Palestinian people of their rights, such as the right to independence, self-determination, security, welfare, and education, but today it has also taken away their right to life, food and water, and shelter.
The Iranian president also stressed that there must be no delay whatsoever in confronting such crimes and widespread acts of aggression, urging that actions in this regard must be prioritized through cooperation and coordination.
“The first step to stop these acts of aggression is to pressure this regime for a cease-fire in Gaza and to halt its attacks on Lebanon and Syria. This issue must be the most important human and ethical priority for the countries of the region and members of the D-8 organization,” Pezeshkian emphasized.
“I would like to emphasize that the Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes and supports any Palestinian-Palestinian agreement that is endorsed by the Palestinian people and has the consensus of all Palestinian groups. The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination must be respected, and their intellectual and political maturity in determining their own future and destiny must be honored,” Pezeshkian added.
He called on the D-8 organization to create a support program for facilitating Palestine’s development and reconstruction, establishing a contact group to collaborate with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in halting the war on Gaza and providing humanitarian aid, and setting up a fund for rebuilding Gaza and Lebanon.
Pezeshkian also urged the organization to support the recognition of Israel as an apartheid entity and work to revive UN Resolution 3379, while forming a joint legal committee to support Palestine in international legal actions, including in prosecuting Israeli officials for the deaths of over 17,000 Palestinian children.
Regarding Israel’s devastating attacks against Syria’s infrastructure, particularly its military, he stressed that Iran strongly condemns the regime’s attacks on the Arab country’s infrastructure, property, and assets.