29 Mar 2024
Tuesday 31 May 2016 - 18:08
Story Code : 216482

No major obstacles exist for accepting Iran in SCO, consensus needed

There are no objective reasons that could hinder the acceptance of Iran as a new member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), but the consensus among member states is needed to include this issue in the agenda of the upcoming SCO summit in Tashkent, SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov told Sputnik Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) SCO currently comprises six members (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) withaccession process forIndia and Pakistan due tobe accelerated duringthe summit inTashkent inlate June.

"Now there are no objective reasons that hinder the start ofthe procedure [of Iran membership], butthe consent ofall states is needed toinclude this topic inthe agenda," Alimov said.

Since 2008, Russia has been advocating the idea ofIran's SCO membership, butthe process had been complicated bythe sanctions regime againstTehran, which has been lifted recently.

"The accession ofthe new members is not an easy process," Alimov said, citing India and Pakistan asan example. "India and Pakistan filed applications eleven years ago. The launch ofthe process [of their future membership] happened one year ago, butit is not a fact yet, the process is still ongoing."

The SCO is a political, economic and military alliance founded in2001.

By Sputnik News
https://theiranproject.com/vdcc4eqii2bqs08.-ya2.html
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