Iran signed a memorandum of commitment for its permanent membership in the powerful regional grouping the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced late Wednesday that he signed the document for his country’s full membership in the organization ahead of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, which begins Thursday.
"Now we have entered a new stage of various economic, commercial, transit, energy, etc. cooperation," the top Iranian diplomat wrote. He added that SCO's Secretary-General Zhang Ming "congratulated" Iran for its permanent accession and called it an "important development.”
The Eurasian political, economic and security alliance was founded by China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2001 and is recognized as the world's largest regional organization, with eight members and four observer states. Iran acquired observer status in the organization in June 2005. Its permanent membership in the powerful organization was approved in September last year during the summit in Tajikistan after a wait of almost 15 years.
The technical and legal processes, which generally take time, began soon after, with President Ebrahim Raisi hailing it as one of his government's diplomatic masterstrokes.
The SCO summit will be held Thursday and Friday and brings together top world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
