Siraj Wahab & Samir Al-Saadi | Arab News   

JEDDAH: Stronger ties between Russia and Muslim nations augur well for a world that has seen problems associated with US hegemony, according to religious, cultural and political leaders who attended the Russian-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group’s three-day forum at the Jeddah Conference Palace.

“The first eight years of the 21st century have shown us how a world dominated by one superpower can be dangerous. These eight years have demonstrated that problems cannot be solved by a brute show of force,” said Veniamin Popove, director of the Russian Center for Partnership of Civilizations.

“The balance of power is changing. The world is changing. It is no longer a unipolar world. New centers of power are emerging. Russia is one pole. The Islamic world, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is another pole. If we join these two poles then we would have a better leverage on the world stage,” Popove said.

He noted that Saudi Arabia is among the 20 nations that will discuss the fallout of the global economic crisis in the United States on Nov. 15. “Saudi Arabia has been specially invited for this crucial summit. Here is proof of the fact that the Islamic world has arrived on the world stage,” Popove said. He added that the Jeddah forum discussed issues that kept Russia and the Islamic world at bay in the past.

“We have opened a new chapter in our relationship with the Islamic world. There is political and cultural will to come together in the larger interest of humanity. Everybody now accepts that the world cannot have followers of just one religion. We all have to learn to coexist and this is basically the message of the forum,” Popove said.