Russia supports Iran’s accession to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
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Roshan Amiri
- . September 17, 2022
- . Update: September 17, 2022 10:59 pm
Russia supports the acceleration of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s membership process in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, said at the SCO summit on Friday.
In his speech at the summit, Putin mentioned the signing of membership documents by Iran and said that Russia backed the acceleration of the finalisation process of Iran’s permanent membership in the SCO. He also said that Iran’s full membership would affect the SCO positively.
The President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, talked about Iran’s intention to join the bloc at the SCO summit in Uzbekistan. Subsequently, Iran signed a Memorandum of Obligations to become a permanent member of the SCO.
During a meeting in Samarkand, the Iranian President told Putin, “The relationship between countries that are sanctioned by the US, like Iran, Russia or other countries, can overcome many issues.”
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Iran applied for full SCO membership in 2008. However, Iran’s bid to join the bloc was slowed down because of the United Nations and the United States sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. In 2021, the SCO approved Iran’s application for accession.
This comes as Iran and world powers are struggling to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. Since last year, Iran has been engaged in EU-brokered talks with the US to revive the deal.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
SCO was founded by China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2001 as a political, economic and security organisation. India and Pakistan joined the bloc in 2017. It is recognized as the world’s largest regional organisation, covering approximately 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia and 40 per cent of the world population.
The 22nd Summit of the Council of Heads of the SCO Member States (SCO-CoHS) commenced on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
