By Katrina Mennen A. Valdez Reporter

Iran said that it's time the Philippines was accorded an observer’s status in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Islamic republic’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said Thursday.

Mottaki told reporters at the end of his two-day visit to the country that “Iran strongly believes that the Philippines can present a great co-existence between Muslims and Christians in the world, thus, it [Philippines] deserves an observer’s status [in the Organization of Islamic Conference].”

The OIC is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations, with 57 member-states in four continents. The organization, which is looked up to as the collective voice of the Muslim community, ensures to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various peoples of the world.

“Observer’s status” is a privilege granted by the OIC to nonmembers to give them an opportunity to participate in the organization’s activities. It, however, does not give the observer the right to vote or propose resolutions.

Mottaki said that the Iranian government was willing to help advance the peace process in conflict-torn southern Philippines, but only if Manila would approach it.

“Tehran is more than prepared to help the Philippines since there have never been any negative signs with its relationship with the country,” he added.

His government was “prepared to help the Philippines resolve conflicting issues with our fellow
Muslims in Mindanao,” Mottaki said apparently of such issues as the separatist agenda of Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao in the predominantly Christian South.

Ali Mojtaba Rouzbehani, Iran’s ambassador to the Philippines, also told The Manila Times that though they made known to the Philippine government their intention to extend help in addressing conflicts, they are yet to receive a single request from President Gloria Arroyo.

When asked whether the Philippines would be placed in an awkward situation if Iran tried to intervened since Manila is a strong ally of Washington, Rouzbeni said, “Maybe.”

Trade and consular affairs

Mottaki said that Iran wants to boost its bilateral trade with the Philippines, which at present stands at $400 million.

“We can easily increase this figure to $1 billion, provided that fundamental matters on the table will immediately be discussed and finalized,” he added.

Iran exports minimal oil and petrochemicals, nuts and metals and other raw materials for the construction sector. It gets electronic products, raw materials for light and heavy industries and fresh and dried fruits from the Philippines.

The Iranian ambassador said that one area that Manila and Tehran are working on is faster visa processing for Iranians who want to visit and travel to the Philippines.

“Filipinos can get their visas from Iran easily, when they are already there it is easy for them to request for an extension if they plan to stay longer. For Iranians to come here, however, it is quite difficult,” Rouzbehani also told The Times.

“Thus, Iranians go to other Southeast Asian countries, like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Little do Filipinos know, Iranians have lots of money to spend for vacations and shopping sprees, and most of all they want to come here, but would instead opt for another country since it is taxing for them to have their visas approved,” he said.
Nuke prospects

Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki said that every country has the right to a safe and progressive development of nuclear energy plants.

Threat of US sanctions

Also on Thursday, US President Barack Obama, who is in South Korea, said that the United States and its partners were discussing “consequences” in the form of toughened sanctions on Iran.
“Let us not take it [sanctioning Iran] seriously. Sanctions were the literature of the 1960s and the 1970s,” Mottaki said when asked whether Iran feared more serious sanctions.

Western leaders have expressed fears that Iran might secretly divert some of its uranium stocks and enrich them further to higher levels of concentration needed to make an atomic bomb, a speculation that Iranian officials strongly deny.