Iran Foreign Minister Delivers Speech At Voice Of Global South Summit

Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian delivered a speech at the Voice of Global South Summit, held via video links, and presented the Islamic Republic of Iran’s views and opinions on major international issues and the effective role played by the Global South Countries on the world stage.

During his speech, Amirabdollahian said, “Currently, the world is grappling with multi-layered and complicated crises and facing a return of COVID-19, conflicts, war, terrorism, under-development and adverse consequences of poverty and economic inequality, and at the same time, recession and inflation.

This is while a number of players have directed their efforts toward their own unilateral interests, instead of engaging in consultations and cooperation for a resolution of global crises and problems, and exert pressure on the independent and multilateralism-seeking countries via infiltration into international financial and economic institutions and the imposition of cruel unilateral sanctions.”

Amirabdollahian urged taking practical steps toward the strengthening of global peace, stability and security, expressing Iran’s readiness to cooperate with the Group of Twenty (G20).

He listed Iran’s proposals to achieve that goal, including setting up a troika of the South Countries to serve the interests of their nations, multilateral cooperation at the regional and international levels toward consolidating energy security in the world and making convergent efforts to ensure food security and supply chains, multi-faceted cooperation in the fields of transportation, roads and transit, benefiting from nuclear energy fairly and peacefully, moving toward global nuclear disarmament in the world, fighting against terrorism and extremism and bolstering religious tolerance, and creating an independent media platform for the South.

Elsewhere, the Iranian foreign minister said the Islamic Republic of Iran maintains a firm resolve to restore its right to benefit from nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including enrichment and remains committed to the realization of the nuclear agreement with goodwill. In spite of that, the incumbent American administration keeps insisting on violation of commitments, and sanctions policy, making excuses and wasting time, despite the demands of the international community, while the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not yield to pressure, threats and bullying from abroad, and believes diplomacy and dialogue are the best options,” he added.

Besides Amirabdollahian, the foreign ministers of India (the host nation), Armenia, Oman, Maldives, Panama, Jamaica, Kenya, El Salvador, Georgia, Uganda, Tunisia, and the Dominican Republic also offered their viewpoints during the event.

The focal points in the speeches mainly included multilateralism and reforming international and financial procedures ruling the global systems in a way that they are reflective of the expectations, priorities and cooperation of the South Countries, joint global cooperation, especially between the southern countries, in order to face common international challenges, including those in the fields of food security, energy security, and minimizing the harms of global challenges, including climate change, global crises, war, pandemic, terrorism and violence.

The participants also laid emphasis on the issue of the debts of small countries and growing economies, especially in light of the current conditions in the world and the need for governments in the northern countries to fulfil their obligations, moving toward renewable and clean energy and the need to consider the vulnerabilities of smaller and weaker countries, and the necessity to promote cooperation and international participation among the South Countries.

For his part, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who hosted the event and delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, said India, as the host of the conference and the chair of the G20 in 2023, is making efforts to collect and convey the viewpoints of the world’s other prominent countries through holding different events.

He said India is always part of the solution and stands ready to share its initiatives, technology and resources with other countries.

India convened the “Voice of Global South Countries” webinar with the goal of preparing to host the upcoming summit of the G20 heads of state, which is slated for September 2023.