Iranian President to address SCO summit today

Tehran, The Gulf Observer: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is scheduled to address the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), during which the Islamic Republic’s full membership will be officially announced.

President Raisi will outline Iran’s policies in his address to the 23rd SCO Council of Heads of State via video conference, today. India is hosting the virtual summit this year.

Headquartered in China, the SCO is a diplomatic organization with eight members, namely Russia, India, Pakistan, and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Iran’s request for full and official membership was approved by the eight member states during the 21st SCO summit in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in September 2021. President Raisi participated in that summit.

Prior to that, Iran had been an observer member of the SCO since 2005, along with Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia.

Since taking office in 2021, President Raisi’s administration has followed a “look to East” approach in its foreign policy, prioritizing expansion of political and economic relations with Iran’s neighboring countries.