"Based on the doctrine of neighborhood and convergence, active membership in regional and international organizations is an important part of President Raeisi's foreign policy. Full membership in Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been successfully finalized. The next step is [being a member of] BRICS," said Mohammad Jamshidi in a tweet on Tuesday in reaction to the approval of Iran as a full-fledged member of the world's largest regional organization ).
Iran became a SCO member during the 23rd virtual summit of the bloc which started on Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson.
Iran first applied for membership in the alliance 15 years ago, but it took until 2021 for the request to be approved.
The SCO, which has its headquarters in China, is a diplomatic organization with eight members, namely Russia, India, Pakistan, and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Iran and the organization started a formal process for Tehran’s accession to the bloc in March 2022. In September of the same year, Iran signed a memorandum of commitment to join the SCO. A month later, the Iranian parliament approved the country's accession to the organization.
Iran is also hoping to be quickly accepted into another grouping that excludes Western countries – the BRICS group with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Earlier on June 3, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the members of the BRICS group of emerging economies have welcomed the Islamic Republic's potential accession to the powerful bloc.
Iran is among more than a dozen countries that seek membership in the bloc and has submitted a formal application to join the body.
The Islamic Republic has described its objectives as in alignment with those of the BRICS countries.
MNA/
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