DUSHANBE, June 24, Asia-Plus — Iran hopes to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) during the SCO summit that will be held in Dushanbe in August, Manouchehr Muradi, the head of the Iran MFA department for Central Asia and Caucasus, remarked at a meeting with journalists in Dushanbe on June 24.
According to him, Iran applied to Tajikistan two months ago already for support for its becoming a full member of the SCO. Muradi noted that no one member nation of the SCO has opposed Iran’s joining the organization.
We will recall that during a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Dakar on March 13 on the sidelines of the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, President Emomali Rahmon pledged Tajikistan”s support for Iran to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Besides, President Rahmon met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Dushanbe on March 24. to discuss ways to promote further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran. After a meeting with Tajik President Rahmon, Mottaki told reporters that Iran has observer status in the SCO and has recently requested for membership and the Tajik government has supported it.
The SCO is an intergovernmental security organization founded in 2001. Russia, Tajikistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are full members and Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia have observer status.
