Participants of Anti-Terrorism Conference in Tehran Reaffirm Support for Palestinians

The speakers of the parliaments of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and in the final declaration of the Tehran edition of conference on combatting terrorism, asserted their support for the “inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, in particular, to establish their own state with Al-Quds as its capital”.

According to the document, the participants of the Conference “reaffirmed the role of peace and sustainable development as necessary condition for strengthening relations, as well as ensuring sincerity and enhancing synergy in relations between states”.

In addition, the central role of the United Nations in promoting international cooperation in the prevention and countering terrorism and extremism was emphasized, as well as the need to implement all measures in accordance with international law and the principles of the UN Charter.

The document condemns “in the strongest terms” the terrorist acts in the member states of the Conference, including the recent terrorist act in Iran’s Southeastern port city of Chabahar, which took place on December 7, 2018. “In this regard, we are determined to eradicate terrorism and condemn support for terrorism, as well as to reinforce and confirm our efforts in this field,” the Declaration says.

The importance of inter-parliamentary interaction and cooperation at different levels for the mutual learning from experience aimed at building a world without terrorism was also emphasized.

Conference participants called on states, especially those being victims of terrorism, to fully cooperate countering it, as well as in accordance with international law and the provisions of the UN Charter and based on the principle “extradite or prosecute”, to deny asylum and bring to justice any a person who supports, assists, participates or attempts to participate in financing, planning, preparing or committing terrorist acts.

The participants of the Conference supported the efforts of joint implementation of the Belt and Road initiative, “which aims to improve interaction between countries and regions for interrelated development”.

The declaration emphasizes that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is an important achievement of multilateral diplomacy, unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council resolution 2231. Participants reaffirmed the urgent need for strict implementation and full compliance of the commitments.

In addition, the Moscow Process initiatives related to the parliamentary dimension of countering the global drug problem and enshrined in the Declaration of the International Conference “Parliamentarians against Drugs” (December 4, 2017, Moscow) and the Declaration of the International Forum “Development of Parliamentarism” (4–6 June 2018б Moscow), including the need to expand the inter-parliamentary dialogue to improve existing mechanisms to counter international terrorism, drug trafficking and cybercrime, were supported.

The declaration states that the participants agreed that in order to ensure global and regional peace and stability, Pakistan and India should reach a peaceful settlement of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution (Pakistan, P19 Islamabad, December).

The declaration confirms “the determination to support the Republic of Turkey in bringing to justice those who committed the attempted coup on July 15 and other crimes”.

The participants of the Conference commended recent major achievements in defeating ISIS (banned organization in the Russian Federation – editor’s note) in Iraq and Syria and reaffirmed the attitude towards it and all terrorist groups operating in the participating states [Al-Qaeda and associated individuals, groups, enterprises, including legal entities, as well as Taliban groups not intending to negotiate with the government of Afghanistan] as a serious threat to the security and stability of the states of the region, and called for collective efforts to counter this threat.”

The final provisions of the declaration note that the participants, referring to the commitment of all states to implement the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on international terrorism, has stressed the need for all states to avoid politicizing the UN sanctions regime and the work of the Financial Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

Parliament speakers of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, China and Russia joined their Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani in Tehran on Saturday to participate in the Second Conference on Combatting Terrorism.

At the beginning of the conference, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan Asad Qaiser who chaired the first round of the conference ceded the presidency of the conference to Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.

Also, in the opening ceremony of the conference, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressed the event.

Before the commencement of the conference, the speakers of parliaments of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, China, and Russia were introduced to the President, and then posed for a photo.

Ali Larijani and the parliament speakers from Russia, China and Afghanistan delivered speeches at the event.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, President's Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi, Parliament's General Director for International Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian and a group of parliament lawmakers were among the participants in the event.

In the first edition of the conference which took place last year in Islamabad the parliament speakers of Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, China, Russia and Afghanistan decided to enhance regional counter-terrorism cooperation.

Earlier on November 20, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described his country as a pioneering state in combating terrorism, and said Iran, which is one of the victims of the weapons of mass destruction, is a major opponent of such weapons in the world.

President Rouhani made the remarks on Wednesday speaking at the regular weekly cabinet session in Tehran.

Stating that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the pioneer of fighting terrorism, he said, “Iran is the biggest victim of aggression, terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction."

Rouhani highlighted that Iran's past experience in being victimized by the use of weapons of mass destruction is one of the reasons that now it is "the major state in fighting WMDs".

He added, “Today, we should be –and are- the top country in not letting terrorists take advantage of different financial systems for transferring money."

Iran has announced in numerous occasions that it welcomes bilateral and multilateral cooperation on combatting terrorism in the world, and it has been the major supporter of Iraqi and Syrian governments in their campaign against the ISIL and similar terrorist groups.

On Sunday, Iraqi President Barham Salih who was visiting Tehran at athe head of a senior Iraqi delegation met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and appreciated Tehran's assistance to Baghdad in the fight against terrorist groups, adding, "Iran played a huge role in defeating terrorism through its supports (for Iraq)."

On last Monday, Special Assistant to Iran's Foreign Minister in Political Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met in Damascus and the two sides vowed to keep up their mutual cooperation on fighting terrorist and extremist groups.

Iran and Syria have pledged to keep counter-terrorism cooperation and to counter US bids to revive terrorists and create obstacles to prolong the war in the Arab country.

Jaberi Ansari and President Assad reiterated the importance of Syrian-Iranian relations as a factor of stability.

The two sides reaffirmed both nations' determination to continue combating terrorist groups operating across the region.

They also underlined the need for a political settlement as the sole solution to the Syrian crisis. They also vowed to resist any pressure by the United States, which is attempting after its failure to revive terrorists to topple the government in Damascus.

Iran has been offering military advisory support to Syria at the request of the Damascus government, enabling its army to speed up its gains on various fronts against terror outfits.

However, over the past few years, Israel, the closest ally of the US has frequently attacked military targets inside Syria in an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering defeats in the battle against Syrian government forces.

Also, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi voiced Tehran's readiness to cooperate with the European countries in fighting terrorism and extremism, in his meeting with the Norwegian and Swedish ambassadors to Tehran, on November 05.

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