Muslim trade summit overshadowed by Iran
The stand-off over Iran’s nuclear ambitions overshadowed trade talks opening on Bali today between leaders of Muslim-majority countries, with snipers on rooftops, anti-terror squads patrolling the resort and security posts on the beach.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to discuss how to boost economic and political cooperation, alleviate poverty, restructure debt and develop alternative energy sources.
Also at the Developing Eight or D-8 summit on Indonesia’s tropical Bali island, hit in recent years by several al-Qaida-linked terrorist attacks, were heads of state from Nigeria, Turkey and Malaysia and government ministers from Egypt and Bangladesh.
“Our people need to do more to help one another, to cooperate with one another,” Yudhoyono said in an opening statement, adding that Islamic nations needed to work together to develop renewable and alternative energy sources.
“We are all proud nations on the march toward democracy, modernity, and progress,” Yudhoyono said before retreating behind closed doors. “Our potentials are enormous. Our recourses are vast. Great opportunities lie await.”
Though Iran’s nuclear crisis was not officially on the agenda, it was certain to be raised on the sidelines amid a tense international stand-off over Tehran’s uranium enrichment program and suspicions in the West it is trying to develop atomic weapons.
Such fears were aggravated yesterday, when diplomats said UN inspectors may have found traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium on equipment from an Iranian research centre linked to the military.
The diplomats, who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging the confidential information, cautioned that they were still awaiting confirmation from other laboratory tests.
Ahmadinejad reiterated ahead of today’s day-long summit that his aim was to generate energy, and that he would continue to fight for the right to develop new technologies.
He said this was in the interests of the D-8 countries, who represent 14% of the world’s population.
The meeting on Bali occurred eight months after suicide bombers walked into three crowded restaurants, killing 20 people. The deadly strike blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, followed twin nightclub bombings in 2002 that killed 202 mostly foreign tourists.
Security was tight, with snipers stationed on rooftops and the top floor of the five-star beach-side hotel that was hosting the meeting. Bags were X-rayed, anti-terror police dressed in black patrolled the grounds and makeshift military posts were stationed along the beach.
