TEHRAN - The value of Iran’s non-oil trade with member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has increased by 31 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22), according to the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).

Ruhollah Latifi said the country has traded 21.415 million tons of non-oil goods worth $17.056 billion with the 11 member states of SCO in the mentioned five months, IRNA reported.

Iran has exported 17.381 million tons of goods worth $9.078 billion to the SCO members in this period, registering a 10 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Moreover, the Islamic Republic imported 4.034 million tons of goods worth $7.978 billion from the mentioned countries in the said five months, indicating a 68-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, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Mongolia.

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

In total, the Islamic Republic traded about 58.140 million tons of non-oil commodities worth $42.589 billion in the first five months of the current Iranian year.

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

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), 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.

EF/MA