TEHRAN- President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran said on Tuesday that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has the capacity to stand against unilateralism by the Western world.

Raisi made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran with SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming.

The Iranian president said skilled workforce, great population, abundant rich and natural resources, extensive geography have created opportunity for the SCO to effectively resist against the Western unilateralism and create regional and international integrity.

The SCO, a Eurasian political, economic and security forum founded in 2001, is comprised of eight member states: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan (with Iran soon to join). Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia are observer states, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are dialogue partners.

As of 2021, the SCO accounted for 42.49% of the world's population and 24.2% of the global GDP.

Iran’s request to join the SCO was formally accepted by member states in the organization’s summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2022. The country is now formally in the process of becoming a full member.

Raisi said Iran’s membership in the organization will lead to more agility in terms of regional cooperation and reinforce commercial ties between members.

Exchange of experiences and more interactions between SCO members can energize economic and commercial ties, he remarked.

The Iranian president suggested that cooperation between Iran and the secretariat of the SCO should proceed in a way to create a condition for materializing the memorandums of understandings and promote the level of cooperation to an acceptable level.

 ‘Iran’s proposals to promote SCO status is under study’

For his part, Zhang expressed delight that Iran is becoming a formal member of the SCO and presented a report about the process of joining the organization by the Islamic republic.

The SCO chief also praised Iran’s good relationship with the members as well as its important status in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the SCO geography.

He also said Iran’s proposals for upgrading the structure of the SCO is “under study”.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zhang said, “In view of Iran’s ancient civilization and rich history we are sure that it can act as an active and constructive member in developing the area of action and power of the Shanghai Organization in achieving its aims.”