Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has launched a new attack on the West at a regional summit in Kazakshtan.
Ahmadinejad, speaking at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Kazakh capital, Astana, called for a new world order to replace the current one, which he said was “managed and run by slavers and colonizers of the past.”
SCO was founded in 2001 as a security counterweight to NATO that would allow Russia and China to rival U.S.influence in Asia.
In his address, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged the SCO to take a more active role in ensuring regional security.
“Our goal is to continue strengthening our organization’s potential, both in the short term and in the long term,” Medvedev said.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Medvedev later had a trilateral meeting with Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the summit.
SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have observer status.
compiled from agency reports