letheomaniac
Adept
Gender: 
Posts: 267
Reputation: 7.56
Rate letheomaniac
 
|
 |
A new headache for Dubya - Russia and Islamic countries cosy up to one another
« on: 2008-07-08 10:53:57 » |
 |
[letheomaniac] I'm sure that this was not on Georgie boy's Christmas list...
Source: Moscow News No 26 2008
Author: Alexey Peskov
Dated: 3/7/2008
Russia and Islam: Relations on the Rise
Russia is a multi-ethnic and a multi-confessional country that is home to almost 20 million Muslims. Last week, from June 23 to June 24, the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Russia and the Muslim World" was held in Moscow. At the same time, a press conference was held at the Press center of RIA Novosti at which its participants shared their impressions on the gathering.
But first, let us briefly consider the recent history of relations between Russia and the Muslim nations. Two important landmarks dominate this relationship: First, in August of 2003, then president Vladimir Putin paid an official visit to Malaysia, during which he declared that his country would like to participate in the activity of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Two months later, Putin visited Malaysia once again to participate in the 10th Islamic Summit, which was held in Putrajaya, not far from the country's capital Kuala Lumpur. Although his speech lasted for only seven minutes, it was interrupted with hearty applause four times because Putin reiterated Russia's desire to cooperate with the OIC. At this summit, leaders of the Islamic countries realized that Russia was striving for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with the Islamic world, unlike the West, which was merely trying to impose its own values on them.
In June of 2004, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was invited to Istanbul to participate in the Conference of Foreign Ministers. And on June 30, 2005, in Sana'a, the capital of the Republic of Yemen, Russia was granted a status of an observer at the OIC.
Since then, much progress has been made in our relations with the Islamic world. Most importantly, one should single out the political ties with Islam. In this ongoing discussion, there is a constant search for a solution to the crisis in the Middle East. It seems impossible to imagine any solution without Russia's direct participation.
Economic ties come in a close second place. Saudi Arabia has already launched seven satellites with Russia's participation; Russia signed a very important contract with the government of Malaysia - "the contract of the century" - which envisages the sale of SU-35MK (Sukhoi) fighter jets to Malaysia. The cost of the contract is $900 million US dollars. And last October, a joint Russian-Malaysia space flight took place, in which the first Malaysian astronaut took part. There are many other such examples of the beneficial cooperation between Russia and the Islamic countries.
That is why, in view of the above mentioned, so many important subjects came under scrutiny at the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Russia and the Muslim World" which was held in Moscow from June 23 through June 24 (The conference was held under the auspices of the Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies, by the Civilizations' Partnership Center of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the Islamic Culture and Communication Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the World Assembly on the rapprochement of Mazhabs, and other organizations).
Speaking at the conference, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia, Evgeny Primakov, pointed to the significance of its work since Russia had become an active participant of the OIC. A message of greetings from Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, was read out at the Conference by the Special Envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Robert Markaryan.
During the two days of its work, participants of the conference - which included prominent religious figures, politicians and public figures - discussed a wide range of problems between Russia and the Islamic world.
Veniamin Popov, Director of the Civilizations Center of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations said that over 100 delegates had taken part in the conference. "But the main participants were our Iranian colleagues and the Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies," he said. Popov, referring to the speech by Primakov, reasserted that in recent years there has been much progress in relations and in the development of ties with the Islamic world.
Popov then went on to talk about the importance of the Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
"A Fund of Support for the Islamic Culture, Science and Education was founded for the first time in Russia," Popov said, alluding to the new Arabic-language channel from Russia Today.
"The Interdepartmental Group on the Development of Economic Cooperation is now being formed. Recently, a large conference was held in Kazan, which was organized by the Islamic Bank for Cooperation and by the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan. Over one hundred businessmen from Arab states participated."
The Head of the Center on the rapprochement of Mazhabs, Ayatollah Mohammed Ali Taskhiri, who is well-known not only in Iran, but through out the Islamic world, reiterated the significance of the conference. Addressing the members of the conference, Taskhiri said that relations between Russia and the Islamic countries had always been just and "Russia strengthens and consolidates ties with the Islamic world - it is a reasonable step and a necessary step. Russia is a very good partner and co-participant for the Islamic world." He then said that the West was unfair in its relations with the Islamic countries; it was imposing its will and values on them. He highly appraised both Russian-Iranian cooperation and its cooperation with the Islamic world as a whole.
On this rather upbeat note, the conference came to a close. According to the opinions of its different participants, the conference was very fruitful. "It was just another contribution to the development of our mutual ties," one of guests, who wished to remain anonymous, observed.
Most people seemed of the opinion that much needs to be done to perfect and to diversify Islamic-Russian ties. And it is the duty of our assorted governments and public organizations, politicians and religious figures to expand and broaden the relationship for future generations.
|
Author
Logged
