Tehran, Iran, Jan. 28
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has said that this was “not the time to build walls between nations” in an apparent criticism of President Donald Trump’s recent order to construct a US-Mexico border wall.
“They have forgotten that the Berlin Wall collapsed years ago.
Walls should rather be razed if there is any between nations,” Rouhani told an international conference of tour guides in Tehran, IRNA news agency reported January 28.
Trump has recently ordered to set up a wall on the US-Mexico border in a bid to fulfill his campaign promises to keep out illegal immigrants.
Rouhani’s further remarks at the event were also apparently aimed at criticizing Trump’s recent withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“Revoking international trade pacts will not help develop trade. Today is the day for peaceful coexistence, not a day for separating nations,” the Iranian president said.
The TPP, or the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
The finalized proposal was signed on February 4, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand, concluding seven years of negotiations.
It currently cannot be ratified due to US withdrawal from the agreement on January 23, 2017.
The former Obama administration claimed the agreement is aimed to "promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in the signatories' countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections."
The TPP contains measures to lower both non-tariff and tariff barriers to trade, and establish an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism.