JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA -- US billionaire financier George Soros said at the Jeddah Economic Forum the American administration's policies were based on a "false ideology" of power, newspapers reported.

The trouble with President George W. Bush administration is not merely their policies "may be wrong" but that "they are wrong," the Saudi Gazette quoted him saying on the last day of the forum in this Saudi city.

"They are bound to be wrong because they are based on a false ideology," which holds that international relations are relations of power, the Hungarian-born investor said.

"Because they think we are unquestionably the most powerful, we have earned the right to impose our will on the rest of the world," he added.

Soros criticised American society for not understanding the concept of open society despite being "the most successful open society in the world".

The three-day annual international event held in this Red Sea port city ended on Monday without any recommendations announced.

The forum aims instead to present different views, the vice chairman of the Jeddah chamber of commerce, Ghassan al-Suleiman, told a press conference

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse

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