The Iranian Parliament on Sunday approved by majority a bill on Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which until now had an observer role in the entity, of which Russia and China are also members.
With 205 votes in favor, three votes against, and four abstentions, the Iranian Parliament has given the go-ahead to the bill for Iran to join the organization, founded in 2001, which includes the world’s most important oil-producing nations.
A spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission said during the vote that the SCO has «an important international message», as it is «one of the most influential regional organizations» «due to the volume of economic exchanges between countries», as reported by the IRNA news agency.
On September 15-16, the SCO summit was held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand — Uzbekistan currently holds the presidency of the organization — when Iran signed a memorandum of commitment to join the organization.
September also saw the start of the process of admitting Belarus as a full member of the body, which counts Afghanistan and Mongolia as observer countries, while Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka have the status of partner countries.
