On September 17, during a meeting in Tajikistan the member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) decided on the full accession of Iran to the Organisation.
The success of Iran
For Iran this decision is a diplomatic and commercial success because SCO represents a market comprising 40% of the world population and 20% of world GDP. Iran’s trade volume with member-countries of SCO exceeds 24 billion euros. SCO for most of its participating countries is one of the main symbols of non-Western cooperation and a non-Western political vision.
Russia and China and the other member-nations of SCO in general believe that Iran’s accession to the organization will nullify Western sanctions so that they can then invest in Iran.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
Shanghai Cooperation Organization set up to resolve territorial disputes in Central Asia between six founding countries – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – and concerns areas such as security, economy, energy, culture, terrorism, extremism and separatist tendencies.
The Council of Heads of States meets once a year. Iran and Mongolia are observer members, while India and Pakistan are permanent members. Belarus and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners and SCO have been in active dialogue with Afghanistan since 2005.
