CICA summit to lend strength to Iran amid sanctions: expert

The upcoming CICA summit will lend strength to Iran in its struggle against sanctions imposed by the West and bring more hope in breaking the nuclear standoff, an expert said in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit, to be held in Shanghai on May 20-21, will give Iran more strength to resist western sanctions and build confidence on Iran's nuclear program among Asian countries, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, dean of World Studies Faculty of Tehran University told Xinhua.

"Iran's participation in the summit will show the world that the Islamic Republic is not isolated," Marandi said.

The West often portray countries in dispute with them as isolated, but the fact that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will join the summit with counterparts from China, Russia and many other countries shows Iran is not left alone in the international community, he added.

Rouhani is among 11 heads of state and 10 chiefs of international organizations who will attend the two-day summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon. China is CICA's host from 2014 to 2016.

As a non-western platform, CICA is a harbinger of the shift from a world order dominated by the West to a multipolar and more just one, Marandi said. Established in 1992, CICA is a forum for dialogue and confidence-building and now has 24 member countries and 13 observers.

"Non-western world is not the periphery, it is in fact the center, just as important as the western world if not more important because of its much larger population," he added.

Marandi calls for special attention to economic security in the summit that stresses security and cooperation.

Economic sanctions, product of unjust world order, is wrecking havoc in Iran, robbing Iranians of jobs, basic goods and even medicine, which led to worsening life and death of innocent people, including patients and children, Marandi said.

The CICA mechanism also creates greater trust among participants. For example, the closer the Chinese and Iranians grow for each other, the better they recognize each other's interest, each other's internal politics and motives.