Iranian president criticizes unipolar world order at SCO summit in Russia

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YEKATERINBURG, Russia, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The current regional conflicts and the global economic downturn have demonstrated that the unipolar world structure dominated by the United States is not viable, said Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here on Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad arrived here earlier on Tuesday to attend the ninth annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iran and three other countries have observer status at the SCO.

"Iraq continues to be occupied, chaos is growing in Afghanistan, the Palestinian problem remains unresolved, the world is swept by political and economic crises, and there is no hope for their resolution," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted the newly re-elected president as saying at a plenary session of the SCO summit.

"The end has come" for the current unipolar world order, said Ahmadinejad, since the United States and its allies were unable to cope with the problems.

He urged the SCO, a regional bloc comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to lead in efforts to tackle the global financial turmoil.

He also reiterated Iran's interest in closer cooperation with the regional group in the speech.

Ahmadinejad had been scheduled to arrive on Monday, but his visit was delayed due to the political situation in Iran.

The Iranian president also briefly met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the summit, though earlier media reports said Medvedev had cancelled their bilateral meeting due to a compressed schedule.

"The parties agreed to continue economic and humanitarian cooperation, and other contacts," a Kremlin spokesperson said after the short meeting.

Ahmadinejad also received congratulations from SCO leaders on his re-election.

"At the beginning of the session the heads of state -- SCO members -- congratulated Ahmadinejad on his election," the Interfax news agency reported citing Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova.