Iran: Co-op, Dialogue in Asia needed for fighting extremism

Zarif told ministers and high-ranking officials of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) on Thursday that the main purpose of the organization is enhancing dialogue and cooperation in favor of peace, instability and sustainable development.

The minister attended and addressed the ACD meeting as Iran took over its presidency.

Iran firmly believes that the ACD should enhance cooperation among its member states to address the current challenges more seriously, the Minister said in the meeting held on the sidelines of 72nd UN General Assembly in New York.

'Cooperation and dialogue are the core values that we try to promote through the ACD to help accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. By focusing on these two values and mainstreaming them in our interaction, we should be able to advance peace and stability that are two important promoters of sustainable development and, at the same time, do whatever in our power to suppress violence and extremism that, over the past several years, have unfortunately reversed an important part of what we achieved over the past several decades in the area of sustainable development,' he said.

'Even though, we have made considerable progress in pushing back extremism in main fronts, we still need to continue working together in an effective way to root out the evil of extremism and save those vulnerable social groups in our societies from this virus,' Zarif added.

Stressing the importance of harmony and peace among ethnic and religious groups within Asian societies, he said, 'these ethnic and religious groups have lived together peacefully for thousands of years and respected each other's rights'.

'We need to build on this healthy and strong tradition with a view to preventing and/or resolving such issues that are affecting several Asian countries,' the Iranian Minister said with an implicit reference to the sectarian violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Widespread violence against the Muslim community in Myanmar began nearly a month ago. The heavy-handed suppression of the minority has forced more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to the neighboring Bangladesh.

Around 400 Muslims have been killed in the recent wave of violence in Myanmar, with satellite images showing that 214 villages have been totally destructed.

Meanwhile, he described Asia as 'an influential player in developments at the global level in all areas, including in political, trade and economic fields,' and urged the ACD as 'an inclusive arrangement of Asia' to be more active in boosting the role and enhancing the 'synergy' throughout the continent.

Zarif also declared that Iran will host the Third ACD Summit in the second half of Oct, 2018.
The Second ACD Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2016.

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