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68 I Eurasia bne October 2021
Raisi addresses the 21st annual summit of the SCO in Dushanbe.
Iran cements ties with East as it
becomes full member of SCO
bne IntelIiNews
Russia, China and the other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) wasted no time in granting Iran de facto full membership of the Eurasian political, economic and security body on September 17.
Prior to the annual SCO summit,
this year held in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, there was speculation that granting the membership could prove
a long-winded process, but Tehran was quick to step forward with a resounding announcement that it had been made part of the increasingly influential club, with only technicalities to be dealt with before formal admission.
Apart from Russia and China, Iran – which has held observer status at the intergovernmental organisation for
15 years – will now also sit alongside India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the SCO.
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The body was formed in 2001 by Moscow, Beijing and ex-Soviet Central Asian states. By now it covers almost half of the world’s population.
Iran will see its SCO participation as one in the eye for the US. The summit brought the first appearance abroad of Iran's new president, the hardline cleric
Referring to sanctions in his summit speech as a form of “economic terrorism”, Raisi said Iran wanted closer ties with its regional neighbours and rejected Washington’s “unilateralism”.
The Raisi administration will now set out to use the recognition bestowed on Iran by the SCO in expanding
“Iran's new president, the hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi wasted no time in calling on the SCO members to help Tehran form a mechanism
to avert sanctions imposed by the West.”
Ebrahim Raisi who took office in August, and Raisi wasted no time in calling on the SCO members to help Tehran form
a mechanism to avert sanctions imposed by the West.
political, economic and cultural ties with countries across the region. A key aim will be to strengthen the Islamic Republic's resistance to Western sanctions and strategies aimed at