UN Envoy Urges Further Cooperation with Iran to Help Eradicate Terrorism
(FNA)- UN Resident Coordinator in Iran Gary Lewis called for further mutual cooperation with Iran in uprooting violence and terrorism and spread of peace in the world.
Lewis said Iran is acting as a source of peace and stability in the region.
He stressed that the international community needed Iran's assistance in fighting terrorism and extremism as well as settling regional disputes.
The UN official then urged all world countries to fight terrorist groups' activities by targeting the ideological roots of their thinking, underlining that his organization has always slammed terrorist acts.
He noted that the UN adopted a global anti-terrorism strategy in 2006 as an action plan urging member states to initiate campaign against terrorism at regional and international levels.
On Iran's role in settling regional disputes, the UN official said that Tehran has been playing outstanding role in this area, stressing that the international community should always consider Iran as a part of regional strategy.
He said he believed certain anti-Iran approaches must be stopped and the country should be given its due status in the region.
Lewis noted that in spite of unrest in Iran's both western and eastern neighboring countries, Tehran enjoys full stability and enjoys remarkable educational and healthcare achievements.
He further described cooperation between Iran as a founding member of the UN and the international body as very good and said the UN welcomes promotion of ties with Iran.
Earlier this month, Caretaker of the Iranian Mission at the United Nations Gholam Hossein Dehqani reiterated Tehran's opposition to any form of violence across the globe, and said the UN has a plan to register the final statement of the first International Conference of the World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) in Tehran as a document at the world body.
The Iranian officials said that the final statement of the international WAVE conference, which was hosted by Tehran on December 9-10, will be soon registered as a UN anti-violence document.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran attaches special importance to any attempt to promote peace, tolerance, dialog and understanding among cultures, religions and civilizations,” Dehqani said in an address to a UN General Assembly session.
He expressed the hope that the two resolutions adopted by the General Assembly on promoting tolerance and dialog would reduce the support by certain countries and political movements for terrorist groups.
Dehqani likened violence and extremism to “fatal and contagious” diseases such as Ebola and influenza, which negatively affect the entire world.
He called for global efforts to counter challenges to peace.
The WAVE conference came in the aftermath of a last year proposal by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 25, 2013, which received the approval of the UNGA after being endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the member states on December 18, 2013.
Yesterday and during his address to the opening of the 1st WAVE conference in Tehran, President Rouhani proposed that December 18 be named as the International Day against Violence and Extremism.
The participants in the Tehran conference welcomed the proposal in their final statement, and underscored the necessity for the world states, politicians and religious leaders to condemn terrorism, violence and extremism in all forms.