Expansion of ties with PGCC, Iran’s priority - Ahmadinejad
IRAN: All-out development of relations with the (Persian) Gulf
Cooperation Council member states is decisive part of Iran's foreign
policy, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.
He made the remarks in an introductory meeting of High Persian Gulf
Council on Sunday. Iranian ambassadors to the Persian Gulf states,
governors general of Persian Gulf neighboring provinces as well as
members of related committees attended the meeting.
‘Division among Persian Gulf littoral states is in the interest of
enemies of the regional countries and paves the path for them to enter
the region,’ President Ahmadinejad said.
The Iranian president added that any movement which can help boost
ties between the regional countries should be welcomed.
‘Persian Gulf has a determining role in the regional and
international equations; Persian Gulf security is very important to Iran
and Tehran can help boost security in this region with the participation
of its littoral states,’ President Ahmadinejad added.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in his speech at
the meeting, underlined the importance of development of ties with the
(Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council in all fields and in particular in
the field of economy.
‘Any kind of instability and insecurity in the region will harm all
regional countries; Iran is committed to expand relations with the PGCC
countries based on the mutual respect and non-interference policy,’
Salehi said. Iranian FM added that Persian Gulf security should be
provided by the regional states through a framework of collective
cooperation.
Salehi pointed to the enemies’ conspiracies in a bid to create rift
among regional countries and asked neighboring provinces’ local
officials to do their best to activate economic collaboration between
Iran and PGCC countries.
On December 3, 2007, President Ahmadinejad attended the 28th PGCC
summit in Doha, Qatar in which he submitted 12 proposals meant to
‘reinforce brotherly ties’ and ‘promote cooperation’ among Persian Gulf
littoral states and Iran.
Established in 1981, the PGCC was originally conceived as a way for
conservative Arab Persian Gulf states to avoid involvement in the
Iran-Iraq War, which had begun the previous year and went on until 1988.
The PGCC's most significant action in recent years has been to give the
fig leaf of respectability to Saudi-UAE armed intervention in Bahrain
during the uprising in March 2011.
The council has done little in the way of institutional development,
however. At last years’ summit in Riyadh, King Abdullah proposed a
‘(Persian) Gulf Union’ that would bring member-states into a
confederation, but there is nothing to show for it.
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