President Ahmadinejad was welcomed by Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim at Kuala Lumpur airport yesterday

Kuala Lumpur, 2008 July 7, IRNA
 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday that creation of a single Islamic currency would help uplift status of Islamic countries.

President Ahmadinejad made the remark in a meeting with former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad.

Ahmadinejad arrived in the Malaysian capital this morning to attend the sixth Summit of the Eight Islamic Developing Countries (D8).

Calling for expansion of all-out cooperation among Islamic countries, he said Islamic states enjoyed high capabilities for development.

The US along with some western countries are concerned about expansion of relations among Islamic countries, he said, adding that the US has reached a dead-end and has to change its polices on global developments.

Continued presence of the US in the Middle East region is not possible, he underlined.

The former Malaysian premier, for his part, welcomed the proposal made by President Ahmadinejad on creation of a single Islamic currency and called for more convergence and unity among Islamic countries.

He underlined the need for joint implementation of economic programs in oil and energy sectors by the two countries.

Under the current circumstances, the US has become very vulnerable and is unable to compensate for its 14-billion-US dollar budget deficit, he said.