Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said African, Caribbean and Pacific states should stand together in denouncing practices by powerful nations that are in defiance of international law, The Herald reported on Friday.

Addressing the sixth summit of the 79-member ACP trading bloc, which was opened in Khartoum, Sudan on Thursday, Mugabe challenged the ACP to further institutionalize a collective and unified approach in defending its vital interests in the multilateral trading system.

Fostering more South-South cooperation in the economic arena, he said, would strengthen intra-ACP cooperation as each of the ACP's regions had unique strengths that could benefit other regions.

"Intra-ACP cooperation also requires us to stand together in denouncing practices by the powerful ones that are in defiance of international law. Our international law system has recently suffered from arrogant defiance and violations by the USA and Britain in Iraq, for example," the president said.

"My own country is currently a victim of sanctions by Britain, the European Union and the USA based on falsehoods and fabrications deliberately contrived. So is Cuba and others," he said.

Once the ACP was institutionalized in defending its vital interests in multilateral trade, Mugabe said, it would be easier to work in collaboration with other groups at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere.

The president said areas of cooperation had also been bolstered over the years and ACP ministers of trade meet several times a year to conduct ACP business.

This year alone, ACP ministers responsible for asylum, migration and mobility, ministers of finance and economic affairs, ministers of education and ministers of culture met to discuss ACP issues.

There was also intra-ACP cooperation in the vital areas of peace and security in the form of the Africa Peace Facility and the All-ACP Peace Facility.

Source: Xinhua