Mehdi Sanaei made the remarks during a meeting with the Russian President’s Special Representative at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Bakhtiyer Khakimov.
Sanaei stressed the development of Iran’s regional cooperation, adding “with a mutual understanding among members of SCO and the recent regional developments, the Islamic republic hopes the process of membership to this organization will be cut short. Iran also believes that the sanctions regime must not prevent SCO from benefiting from the country’s various capacities once it becomes a member.”
Khakimov, for his part, referred to various fields of cooperation between Iran and SCO, noting “the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the main issues on the next meeting’s agenda.”
He also maintained that the membership of Iran, India, and Pakistan will be one of the points of discussion at the next SCO summit, taking place on July 10 in the Russian city of Ufa.
Iran has observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and applied for full membership on 24 March 2008. However, because of ongoing sanctions levied by the United Nations, it is blocked from admission as a new member. The SCO stated that any country under UN sanctions cannot be admitted.
MS
MNA
END
2499305
Your Comment