TEHRAN- During a meeting with Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber in Bishkek on Wednesday, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov requested Iran to help his country build power plant and refinery.

While expressing his surprise about the technical-engineering services of Iran, the official requested the Islamic Republic to provide the necessary groundwork for the construction of a power plant in this country as soon as possible.

Mokhber, heading a high-ranking Iranian delegation, left Tehran for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which will be held on Thursday, October 26.

During the meeting, which was attended by Iran’s ministers of oil, transport and urban development, and some heads of relevant organizations, important agreements were made to expand the cooperation between the two sides.

In the first step, following the agreement of the senior officials of the two countries, the transport ministers were assigned to reach an understanding during the same trip with the continuation of negotiations for the establishment of a rail corridor from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.

The establishment of a commercial center in Iran by Kyrgyzstan and vice versa and holding an exhibition of Iranian products in Kyrgyzstan and vice versa were among other agreements of this meeting.

Speaking to the press prior to his departure, Mokhber said: “The members of the SCO have a lot of capacity for economic cooperation, and we hope that bilateral cooperation with the Shanghai member countries will be agreed upon and planned during this trip.”

The official noted that the SCO member countries have common views with the Islamic Republic of Iran about the multipolar international order, confronting American sanctions and expanding political and economic relations.

“This shared vision can promise a bright future for the nations of the region,” he added.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Charter, formally establishing the organization, was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on September 19, 2003.

Iran’s 6-month trade with SCO members rises 10%

The value of Iran’s non-oil trade with member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has increased by 10 percent in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-September 22), according to the spokesman of the International Relations and Trade Development Committee of Iran's House of Industry, Mining and Trade.

Ruhollah Latifi said the country traded about 37 million tons of non-oil goods worth $21.736 billion with the 11 member states of SCO in the mentioned six months, IRNA reported.

Iran exported 31.436 million tons of goods worth $10.583 billion to the SCO members in this period, registering a three percent decline compared to the same period last year.

Moreover, the Islamic Republic imported 5.545 million tons of goods worth $11.15 billion from the mentioned countries in the said six months, indicating a 24-percent increase compared to last year’s same time span.

Among SCO members, China was Iran’s top export destination in the said period followed by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Mongolia.

China was also the top exporter to Iran, followed by India, Russia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia.

Iran was granted long-awaited permanent membership of the SCO last year and is now completing formalities to make it official.

EF/MA