Iran becomes full member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Iran's permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was approved on Friday during the multilateral alliance's ongoing summit in Tajikistan.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi, who is leading a high-level delegation to Dushanbe on his first foreign visit, thanked the SCO member countries for Iran's accession to the Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance.
In his remarks, Raeisi asserted that his country's foreign policy is based on "opposition to unilateralism," while expressing hope that the SCO will become "a driving force of global multilateralism."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who takes part in the summit through video conference, congratulated Iran for the permanent membership in the organization.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech via videoconference, said Iran "plays an important role in our region and works closely with this organization" while endorsing Tehran's bid.
Iran acquired observer status in the organization in June 2005 and now after more than 15 years it has been endorsed for a permanent membership.
The 21st summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opened in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Friday, with participation of heads of 12 member and observer states.
According to Tajikistan’s media, this year’s summit is going to review results of 20 years of the SCO’s activities, as well as the current situation and future outlook of multilateral cooperation of the member states of the organization.
The heads of states will also discuss regional and international collaborations and hold talks on joint acts in order to control the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the member states.
The SCO consists of eight permanent member states, including India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Four states of Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are observer members and six countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an effective regional and intra-state organization, which was established by leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in 2001.
