TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) has said the country’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is going to facilitate the country’s trade relations with its foreign trade partners.

“Expanding exports and imports with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will also facilitate Iran's trade relations with the world,” Alireza Peyman Pak told IRNA.

The Islamic Republic of Iran was officially accepted into the SCO on September 17 during the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the organization.

Iran's membership in this organization, in addition to political achievements, will also offer a wide range of economic opportunities to the Islamic Republic’s businessmen.

Peyman Pak stressed that Iran should take advantage of this opportunity to develop its economic relations, noting that the country's economic diplomacy apparatus can benefit from the conditions of membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to reduce tariffs, establish banking relations, and make the best use of transportation, logistics and energy transfer.

“Membership in SCO alone will not ensure development, but creates the conditions for us to expand our relations through bilateral and multilateral treaties,” the official said.

“There is the necessary synergy between the authorities in charge of developing relations with the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and in this regard, a policy council has been formed with the presence of all the mentioned authorities to use treaties such as SEO and EAEU under the supervision of the Supreme Export Council,” he explained.

He stressed that given the current situation in the country, joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a golden opportunity for the Iranian economy, noting that the country's economy needs more than ever to develop non-oil exports in order to be able to compensate for the decrease in oil revenues and on the other hand, to increase the gross domestic product.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance. It is the world's largest regional organization in geographic scope and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent, 40 percent of the world population, and more than 20 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

EF/MA