Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday, September 15, that the Islamic states should try to form a powerful Islamic bloc through proper planning and mutual cooperation...
Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday, September 15, that the Islamic states should try to form a powerful Islamic bloc through proper planning and mutual cooperation.
"Considering the prevailing conditions, if the Islamic Ummah does not become powerful, it will certainly face a crisis," the Leader noted in a meeting with officials of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and delegates participating in its annual conference.
The 29th Annual IDB Conference was held in the Iranian capital with the participation of finance ministers from the IDB's 55 member states or their representatives.
"For this reason, Islamic countries must expand cooperation in various fields, particularly in economic sphere, in order to achieve the maximum empowerment of the Islamic world," Ayatollah Khamenei said. "The Islamic world enjoys great financial potential and human resources and is therefore able to play a significant role in promoting overall development in the Islamic states by properly utilizing that potential and those resources," he further noted.
Calling the IDB a "successful" example of cooperation among Islamic states, the Leader added that consultation, planning, strong will, a dynamic economy and making use of scientific and technological development are the key to the progress of the Islamic world. "We should not allow those powers which have turned the world into the scene of disputes and clashes to look at the abundant resources of the Islamic world as plunder," Ayatollah Khamenei stated.
The Leader said that the formation of an Islamic common market would be quite practicable, and that the IDB could play a key role in the realization of this goal.
Pointing to the insecurity in the world economy, Ayatollah Khamenei stated that the hegemonic powers are threatening to freeze Islamic states' assets under any pretext. "This sense of insecurity can be eliminated by concentrating banking operations inside the Islamic world," the Leader stressed.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Safdar Hosseini, briefed the Leader on the latest developments of the 29th IDB Conference. Hosseini said that all participants at the conference reached a consensus on the need to increase trade activities among Islamic states and realize economic convergence. He also noted that the IDB members ratified their next five-year plan at the conference.
IDB chief Ahmad Mohammed Ali said that in the course of its 30-year history, the IDB has invested $41 billion in Islamic states in the fields of social security, health care, education, agriculture, and industry.