Muslim front call against US economic hegemony
KUALA LUMPUR. Malaysia, Dec 19, (AP): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged Muslim nations on Thursday to deepen financial and trade cooperation to fight what he described as US economic hegemony, using an Islamic conference in Malaysia as a platform to decry American sanctions against his country.
Rouhani proposed an Islamic financial payment with Muslim countries trading in local currencies and the creation of a Muslim cryptocurrency to cut reliance on the US dollar and weather the effects of market fluctuation.
He repeated his assertion that the US has used economic sanctions as the “main tools of domineering hegemony and bullying” of other nations.
Iran has been gripped by violent protests since last month amid anger over a sharp hike in gasoline prices following US sanctions after Washington withdrew last year from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. There has been a wave of arrests in Iran and rights group Amnesty International has said at least 304 people were killed in the antigovernment protests.
Rouhani said the US sought to cripple Iran with the “heaviest sanctions” but the country’s economy is on the mend and moving away from reliance on oil.
“The Muslim world should be designing measures to save themselves from the domination of the United States dollar and the American financial regime,” he said at the opening ceremony of a three-day conference that includes leaders from Turkey, Qatar and host Malaysia.
Rouhani suggested the creation of a special banking and financial system among Muslim nations, using local currencies for trade and giving each other trade privileges to deepen linkages.
He said rising extremism as well as challenges such as weak governance, poverty and corruption are endangering sovereignty and paving the way for Western interference in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and other Muslim nations. But if Muslim countries harness their collective strength, they could confront such problems, he said.
Rouhani proposed that the conference in Kuala Lumpur establish a joint fund to finance technological cooperation among Muslim nations and set up a joint research center in artificial intelligence and cyberspace.