Tehran, IRNA – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani has said that calls for multilateralism are getting louder in the international arena, and referred to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an international body with a multilateralist approach.
“At the current juncture, the voice of multilateralism is being heard in the international arena more than any time before. The multilateralist approach taken by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization shows that the SCO is not a ceremonial body, but it is seeking to address urgent security and political needs,” Bagheri Kani said during a meeting with SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming in the Iranian capital Tehran.
The senior Iranian diplomat also called the SCO an alliance between independent and powerful countries for having cooperation.
He said that unlike Western organizations the SCO has been founded based on a decision by independent states and has taken the stance of respecting other countries’ independence and sovereignty.
Such an approach is based on justice and therefore it can offer lasting solutions to international issues, Bagheri Kani added.
The SCO chief said that he admits Bagheri Kani’s views on the organization, and called Iran an influential country in the region and beyond.
He also said that Iran has maintained an active presence in the meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization over the past years.
Zhang Ming called Iran’s view on the SCO strategic, saying it contributed to the reasons for following up the Islamic Republic’s official membership in the organization.
The SCO is a central Asian political, economic, security and defense organization, which is the world’s largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population.
It was founded in June 2001, and its main members are China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran has had an observer status at the organization, and in mid-September 2022, it signed a Memorandum of Obligations to become a permanent member of the SCO.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
