Page 31 - IRANRptOct22

5.2 FTA, multilateral agreements
Iran takes another step towards full SCO membership, ties with Russia further boosted
At SCO summit, Iran, Uzbekistan ink 17 trade and investment agreements
Iran on September 15 took another step towards becoming a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)—the political, economic and security organisation that groups big guns Russia, China and India along with Pakistan and Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Iranian Foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced that Tehran had signed a memorandum of obligations to join the SCO. The signing occurred at the annual summit of the organisation, taking place in the Silk Road oasis of Samarkand, Uzbekistan from September 15 to 16.
The 21-year-old body is sometimes seen as providing a counterweight to Western influence in the regions of its member states. By stepping up its relations with the SCO, with a view to formal membership, Iran has access to another channel via which it can build up trade and investment in the East, at a distance from the sanctions enforcers of the West. Iran’s economic relations, with Russia, for instance, are growing by the day. Since Russia became a pariah to the West by in late February invading Ukraine, Iran has moved to help Moscow fill ruptures in its economy caused by Western sanctions and other economic measures. At the SCO summit, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced that a delegation of 80 large Russian companies will visit Iran next week.
Both Putin and Iranian Presient Ebrahim Raisi are attending the summit. During the course of September 15, they held a bilateral meeting, according to Iranian state TV.
"Iran is determined to boost its ties with Russia, from economic to aerospace and political fields," Raisi said during his meeting with Putin, as cited by the broadcaster.
"The cooperation between Tehran and Moscow can significantly neutralise the limitations imposed on our countries by the US sanctions," he added.
"By signing the document for full membership of the SCO, now Iran has entered a new stage of various economic, commercial, transit and energy cooperation," Iranian top diplomat Amir-Abdollahian wrote on his Instagram page.
Iran will now be able to take part in SCO meetings, although it is likely to be some time before it achieves full membership of the bloc, according to remarks made by deputy secretary-general of the organisation, Grigory Logvinov, to Russian state TV, as relayed by Reuters.
Iran was given SCO observer nation status in 2005. It applied for full membership last year.
Iran and Uzbekistan on September 15 signed 17 agreements to boost cooperation in agriculture, energy, customs, technology, the environment, tourism, business, visas and science, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
The ministry—which made its announcement during the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation annual summit taking place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan—also referred to a deal under which Tehran and Tashkent will work together to provide import-export transportation to Uzbekistan’s benefit via Iran’s sole oceanic port, Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, which provides direct access to the Indian Ocean.
31 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com