Russia is very happy for Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a mere formality remains to complete the process, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on the margins of the SCO summit.
"As we agreed with you, we have done everything for Iran to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Our partners in this organization have supported your application, the last formality is left. It is just a formality, and Iran is joining this now serious, large and authoritative international organization," Putin said.
"And we are very happy about this," the Russian president stressed.
The current members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001, are India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia; the partner countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. The current SCO summit in Samarkand is expected to finalize the admission of Iran and grant the status of a dialogue partner to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS