MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Stability in the Islamic countries around the world is crucial for ensuring global peace and development, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday at the Science and Technology Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Kazakh capital Astana.
"We have all reached a consensus that the 'World of Islam' is a crucial and effective part of the global system, and having a capable, developed and stable World of Islam would lead to universal capability, development and stability," Rouhani said, as quoted by his press service.
The Iranian president stressed that the Islamic countries should remain united in order to successfully integrate into the world order and secure global peace and development.
"Therefore, ensuring coherence, solidarity and cooperation among us, as the members of the great world of Islam, to enter the developed world, is in fact a collective effort to make a world free from ignorance, poverty, war and violence," Rouhani added.
The first-ever OIC Science and Technology Summit kicked off in Astana earlier in the day. The summit brings together Islamic world leaders and other high-ranking officials from the OIC countries to identify goals the Muslim countries should pursue in the field of science and technology in the next decade.
The OIC, established in 1969, has 57 member states, and is considered to be one of the most influential Muslim organizations on the global stage. The total population of the OIC nations exceeds 1.6 billion people, with most of the North Africa and Middle East countries represented in the bloc.
