Tehran is preparing the necessary documents to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said.
“The process of obtaining full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization consists of numerous stages that a candidate country needs to implement within the established time frame,” he said in an interview with TASS.
“According to the schedule, Iran is preparing documents, passing through these stages and notifying the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on a regular basis,” the envoy added.
Tehran’s admission was accepted at the Dushanbe summit last year when Tajikistan was the Shanghai Pact’s rotating chair. However, finalizing that process could take two years.
The SCO was formed in 2001 and today has nine members: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. Together, they account for 40% of the world’s population and 28% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Observer states include Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia.
