Respecting multilateralism; opportunity to deal with US unilateralism

EghtesadOnline: Completing the process of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Action Plan and making decisions on the Palermo and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Conventions are the prerequisites for multilateralism that could increase the country's capacity to counter Trump's unilateralism.

News ID: ۷۴۸۹۹۶

20 November 2019

Empowering the country's economy requires engaging with the world and respecting institutions as the prerequisites of multilateralism.

Multilateralism became especially important in the years following the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991 and was seriously dealt with in international relations, IRNA reported.

Multilateralism’s rules and organized institutions brought about stability after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, these rules and institutions played an important role in managing the wider regional and global developments in the international system.

In addition, given the crises facing the world today, the cooperation of nations in the areas of security, economy, and the environment is crucial, and global actors need to be brought closer together to solve current and future security problems because solving such crises are beyond the power of one actor.

With the advent of technology and business in the cyberspace, the economic activity has now been globalized and transnational regulation has been expanded and accepted. Failure to comply with the recommendations and requirements of the FATF will place restrictions on the country that may be more severe than sanctions. Special limits have been specified in the unilateral sanctions, but with the sanctions imposed by FATF on Iran, the country would be defined as one of the countries with high economic risk in terms of the transparency of the turnover and the whole banking transactions are facing difficulties.

In addition, if these bills are not approved by any country, financial cooperation with Iran would be risky, and therefore investors and the international banking system would discontinue or consider difficult conditions for Iran and such conditions accompanied by sanctions imposed on Iran, could make the country face more economic problems.

For months, Iran's accession to conventions related to the Financial Action Task Force has been the topic of discussion between supporters and opponents at various levels of government. Certainly, each group has its own sensitivities, but "we must not forget that the rules of this international body apply to all countries and Iran has no other option to enjoy the benefits of financial cooperation internationally.

Financial and banking watchdogs and experts now insist that the bills should be passed as soon as possible to engage with the international community. Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Gholamreza Ansari said in an interview that failure to approve FATF bills until February as the deadline is the coup de grâce for the banking system, which has been badly affected by sanctions. Ansari described the approval of the bills as the passport of the Iranian banking system to the world.

In recent years, the United States has put the destruction of multilateral institutions on the agenda and is not afraid of departing the institutions if they fail to ensure and secure their interests. However, in these institutions, there are capacities to counter the US unilateralism. In fact, Iran must also utilize the capacities of the international arena in addition to using national and regional capacities, and thus build on the potential to counter US unilateralism and stand against Trump’s America. In any case, sooner or later Trump will be removed from the political arena, and the American political structure will not simply abandon the capacities and capabilities of multilateral institutions, and any government that comes to power will not destroy them.