President al-Assad stressed that resistance of the occupation is a national
duty and supporting it is a moral and legal duty as standing by it is an
honor we are proud of. this does not deny at all our firm desire for the
realization of just and comprehensive peace on the basis of the return of
the occupied territories, especially Occupied Syrian Golan, but the failure
of negotiations in returning all rights means automatically the existence of
the resistance as an alternative solution.
President al-Assad: Political will is the basis for upgrading cooperation
among Islamic States
Nov 09, 2009
www.sana.sy/eng/22/2009/11/09/254839.htm
Istanbul, (SANA - Syrian News Agency) _ President Bashar al-Assad said
Monday that the meeting on the 25th anniversary of the establishment of
COMCEC was not an event to celebrate as much as it was an important
opportunity for reviewing, evaluating and overlooking of the future and
adjustment of track.
In a speech to the 25th Economic Summit of the Standing Committee for
Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (COMCEC) in Istanbul President al-Assad added:" What we have done
since the foundation and through a simple comparison with other
international gatherings which emerged after the foundation of our
organization and have made great strides in the field of economic
cooperation among its countries, we directly see how far is the distance
which separates between our reality and aspirations of our peoples in
building a strong, broad and deep-rooted relationship among them which
agrees with many cultural and social elements compiled by history and
invests the wide space posed by Islamic world of all its rich and varied
potentials and resources.
" If the legal and technical aspects were necessary for the advancement of
this cooperation, so the political will is the basis for achieving that and
it must be independent of any attempts of foreign intervention to restrict
or affect it to achieve what it seeks," President al-Assad said.
President al-Assad added "It goes without saying that our economy is
associated with our existence. What we faced during past decades were
existential challenges. We sensed the risk 40 years ago when we established
the organization after burning down al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel. Today,
attempts to knock down the mosque are recurring more decisively along a
systematic process to Judaize Jerusalem through expelling Palestinians from
their homes and replacing them with settlers. Together with this process,
every day aggression, genocides and destruction of infrastructures continue
with the aim to plunge Palestinians into total despair and lead consequently
to 'normal' immigration, thus ending up in establishing a pure Jewish
state."
"Events have proven that the statements of condemnation and denunciation are
no longer of any real value unless they are accompanied by practical steps
that begin with putting pressure on Israel rather than complimenting and
awarding it and goes through supporting the Arab indigenous people in the
face of the Israeli occupation by all possible means," the President said.
President al-Assad stressed that resistance of the occupation is a national
duty and supporting it is a moral and legal duty as standing by it is an
honor we are proud of. this does not deny at all our firm desire for the
realization of just and comprehensive peace on the basis of the return of
the occupied territories, especially Occupied Syrian Golan, but the failure
of negotiations in returning all rights means automatically the existence of
the resistance as an alternative solution.
President al-Assad said that in the context of talking about rights, we must
not be cheated of what was raised on stopping the settlement in the
Palestinian lands as the basis for the resumption of negotiations as if the
whole problem now lies in the settlement only. stooping settlement is not an
end in itself, but it is just a stage or a step. what about dismantling
settlements instead of stopping them, and the most important of that, what
about ending the occupation?. so, we have to keep the problem in its basic
framework and the real cause of it is the Zionist occupation, and we must
begin to work for the elimination of the occupation since it ensures
stopping then removing the settlements and not vice versa.
President al-Assad said that cooperation among Islamic countries enabled
them get true benefit form the huge available abilities that provide an
ideal situation of integration between the different resources.
The President pointed out that this cooperation would also expand
cooperation between our organization and other blocs such as ASIAN, African
Union, Arab League and Countries of Gulf Cooperation Council, aiming to
deepen the role of the organization and its members in different fields on
the International arena.
President al-Assad added that as much as economy is connected to knowledge
it would be connected to policy. what is the value of talking about welfare
for man who doesn't live in safety and his/her life is threatened every
morning, and how we could achieve prosperity in the region if explosions
destroy every hope for close solutions only producing pain and frustration
to our peoples.
"The past decades taught us that the prosperity of our countries couldn't be
an imported good," President al-Assad said.
President al-Assad went on saying "Our relations with other countries of the
world couldn't be a substitute for our developed relations which connect and
empower us in the light of the global competition along with the attempts to
dominate the economic decisions of the developing countries and to press
them for keeping them just consumers unproductive countries serving as
markets consuming what others produce."
President al-Assad added"For us, we can not turn into a producing country
unless we gain the required knowledge and science for creating innovation
that constitutes a gate into prosperity which means that economic
development can be achieved not only through trade exchange and the
important joint investments, but also through scientific research that
constitutes the basis of the developed countries' economy."
"This requires starting from a comprehensive cooperation view based on
consolidating economic cooperation through overcoming the obstacles facing
the affiliated
organizations to the OIC or which are affiliated to our countries through
removing the obstacles hindering the movement of investors, the first of
which is adopting businessmen cards instead of entry visas and Syria was the
first of OIC member states who adopted this last May," President al-Assad
asserted.
President al-Assad added "I encourage every country to approve or implement
this procedure and to ask OIC Study and Research Center to prepare studies
on the development projects that have a regional dimension between the
neighboring Islamic countries, particularly land transport lines in addition
to signing agreement on ensuring and encouraging investments and an
agreement on preferences system among OIC member sates,"
"These simple steps are very important for creating cooperation between our
countries and for not keeping agreements just ink on paper and at the same
time they depend on carrying out joint research projects through supporting
COMCEC and financing Research and Development Fund ,which was established by
the Islamabad Summit 2006, particularly due to the fact that a number of
Islamic countries have made qualitative leaps in this domain and many of
them have high-level scientific institutions that are able to provide any
approved joint research project with the necessary scientific staff for its
establishment ,"President al-Assad pointed out.
President al-Assad added "What has been going on in Gaza will stay engraved
in our memory as one of the worst war crimes ever known in modern times,
where internationally banned weapons are being used against civilians
showing Israel's barbarism."
"Support for Gaza should be provided immediately by our countries through
lifting the siege and ensuring the basic requirements for life."
The President stressed that the crimes which were committed in Gaza and the
indifferent international reaction towards them, as well as the negative
response assumed by some western countries in dealing with Goldstone report
which disclosed Israeli crimes through evidence prove that none of our goals
will be achieved by relying on others.
"No fair solutions could be expected from others deciding on our behalf.
Nobody will take care of our interests and rights when we neglect them. We
can not rely on others when we can not rely on our selves. Fake promises are
doomed to fade away, and being submitted to them suggests that our position,
rights and interests have vanished away."
At the end of his speech, President al-Assad thanked President Abdullah Gul
of Turkey for the efforts he has been exerting to bolster cooperation among
Islamic countries, wishing him every success.
Ismael /R. al-Jazaeri /Ghossoun /H. Said /Kh. Aridi
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