PARIS: World leaders yesterday hailed President Barack Obama’s sweeping re-election, with allies pledging to deepen cooperation with the United States on fighting the world economic slump and maintaining security across the globe.
Congratulations poured in from across the world, including fellow UN Security Council members Britain, China, France and Russia as well as its staunch Middle East ally Israel and Obama’s ancestral home in Kenya.
The Taliban, however, seized on Obama’s win to lash out against US military policy in Afghanistan, and Iran’s reaction was tepid.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Obama on his victory. “We hope that the positive beginnings that have taken hold in Russian-US relations on the world arena will grow in the interests of international security and stability,” Russian news agencies quoted Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Moscow was ready to “go as far as the US administration is willing to go,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
Chinese President Hu Jintao noted “positive progress” in Sino-US relations over the past four years despite tensions over issues such as trade and territorial disputes involving US allies. China will “look to the future and make continuous efforts for fresh and greater progress in the building of the China-US cooperative partnership,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai congratulated Obama and said he hoped his win would lead to “further-expanded” relations.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said he was confident relations with the United States would “continue to prosper”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also joined the well wishers. “I will continue to work with President Obama to ensure the vital security interests of Israel and the United States,” said Netanyahu, who had appeared to throw his support behind Romney during the election campaign.
Elsewhere, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the US leader to pursue peace efforts, while Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said he hoped Obama’s re-election would mean the creation of a Palestinian state in the next four years.
Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Mursi also hailed the win, saying he hoped it would strengthen the “friendship between the two countries”. And Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the bonds between Turkey and the United States were strengthened during Obama’s first term.
Iran said Obama’s win would not lead to a normalisation of ties, but said the possibility of negotiations was “not taboo”. “Relations with the United States are not simple, especially after all the pressure and US crimes committed against the Iranian people,” Fars news agency quoted judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani as saying.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was looking forward to working again with his “friend” Obama on several fronts. “There are so many things that we need to do: We need to kickstart the world economy and I want to see an EU-US trade deal,” he said.
United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon urged Obama to act quickly on ending the war in Syria and reviving the Middle East peace process, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she looked forward to continuing cooperation “so both our countries can continue to stand side-by-side to contend with the important foreign policy and economic challenges that we face as friends and allies”.
Merkel’s message was echoed by European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and French President Francois Hollande. AFP
