Iran aims to get economic advantage from SCO membership: Official
Iran seeks economic advantage in its membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a senior official at the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
Accession to the SCO will unlock new markets for Iran's energy, Mehdi Safari, deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy, said in a state TV program on Sunday.
The SCO market is evaluated at over nine billion dollars which can be an ample opportunity to expand exports, Safari underlined.
The official went on to say that the SCO market is not limited to energy, but it includes areas of technology, engineering services, and exports of commodities.
After Iran’s membership in the SCO, the member states, especially Central Asian states, would have access to international waters through Iran which facilitates overseas transit, Safari noted.
On September 15, a document on formalities or commitments letting Iran be a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed during a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and the SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming.
The SCO has currently eight permanent members, including China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and Iran is going to be the ninth.
As Safari announced, the SCO is scaling into a globally effective organization by accepting new members.
About the process of Iran’s membership in the SCO, the official said that 49 related documents have been submitted to Iran's Parliament for approval and there are other documents that should be approved in the parliaments of the other eight member states.
Then, the heads of state will sign the agreements during the next year's summit to be held in India, as said by Safari who added that the process of Iran’s accession will then be completed.