President Emomali Rahmon Delivers Remarks at the Arab Islamic American Summit
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
Your Majesty, the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Your Excellency, the President of the United States of America,
Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished Members of Delegations,
Honorable participants,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I at the outset would like to extend my sincere gratitude to organizers of this Summit for the warm welcome, generous hospitality and the favorable environment for our deliberations.
Building peace, stability and security in the region and the entire world is a key to promote a process of sustainable development.
An unprecedented wave of terrorism and extremism urges us all to seek for the most efficient ways and “road maps” to eliminate sources of its political, military and financial support.
A mass of statements and declarations are adopted over the last 25 years, which unfortunately have not yet yielded desirable results.
In our view, pursuance of “double standards” policy is one of the elements preventing implementation of overall common efforts.
Thereby, radical and violent groups benefit from the support of so called public foundations and organizations and even countries.
Consequently, these threats and challenges have extended geography of their distribution in the most horrific ways.
They (threats and challenges) provoked an extinction of whole states, led to a death of hundreds of thousands of people and caused an unprecedented demolition across many countries and territories.
It is a matter of deep concern that attempts of politicizing and abuse (misuse) of immaculate name of the holy Islam religion provoked the growth of islamophobia and emergence of hatred towards Muslims.
I in this regard reiterate that terrorist and extremist has neither homeland nor nation and nor religion.
Tajikistan at early years of its national independence had a painful experience of hard days of instability.
Ideology of extremism and terrorism, violence and foreign intervention in domestic policy and affairs, as well as intrusion of alien ideas and vision to the people had provoked the instability.
As a result of imposed bloody war hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens have been killed, about one million fled the country and became refugees.
Despite this we managed to build a platform for a wide intra-national dialogue and revived national unity and fostered stability in our society.
In the context of our peace-building experience we express our firm determination and support of the principles for peaceful solution of conflicts within universally recognized norms and regulations.
Excellencies,
Security challenges are growing in our region under the influence of the current instability.
Stability and security in Central Asia mostly linked with and depends on the situation in Afghanistan.
We support constructive efforts of the international community and the Government of neighboring Afghanistan aimed at building lasting peace and genuine stability.
We stand ready to make our input in this process in the period ahead.
Drug trafficking as one of the sources of financial nourishment of terrorism and violence is yet another challenge causing deep concern and alarm in the region and across the world.
There is still a need for extensive international cooperation to counter narcotics.
Massive and widespread use of cutting-edge technologies, particularly internet for mercenary ends of propaganda of extremist and radical ideas unconditionally necessitates our joint concerted actions and cohesive fight against this menace.
Distinguished participants,
We can achieve a positive development in addressing global threats and challenges and prevail together over the hardships only if the international community unites and coordinates its actions.
We believe this process should be a comprehensive and inclusive under the core and coordinating role of the United Nations.
Terrorism cannot be defeated only by building on the military might and solution.
We should identify and meticulously examine the factors nourishing terrorism as a manifestation.
Unemployment, poverty and low level of social security are known to be among the causes promoting radicalization and terrorism.
Support of social sector growth in developing countries would be a key and the most effective way to promote an overall stability.
Alongside with this, it is likewise important to give an utmost attention to expansion of trade and economic ties and mobilization of new technologies to developing countries.
It will certainly enable and build a capacity of these countries to penetrate into the global market bringing in competitive commodities.
The developed countries of the Islamic world, which possess immense financial and investment opportunities, as well as technological capacity, could play an effective role in this practice.
The 2030 Global Agenda’s noble goals aimed at helping the countries to embark on a pathway of sustainable development double our responsibility to make sure we create good and decent future for the generations to come.
We need to rely on mutual support and strong global partnership as we move forward towards the achievement of these global objectives.
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
In conclusion, I wish to once again highlight the growing importance of dialogue of civilizations based on equality and mutual respect, tolerance and transparency, unity of our words and deeds.
I do hope that the outcomes of our Summit will be successful and meet the hopes and expectations of peoples for the peace and stability in our countries.
Thank you for your attention!