Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Iran will remain an observer member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. “Iran would not be able to get the status of an associate member of the SCO because the organization has no associate members but observer nations,” Lavrov told reporters on Friday. He made the statement after a meeting of the SCO foreign ministers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Founded in 2001, the SCO brings together China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as members, while Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India have observer status.
Lavrov added that the foreign ministers did not discuss expansion of the SCO, saying, “We agreed to take practical measures which would enable all observers to take part in the activities of the organization that affect their interests.”
The Russian foreign minister expressed hope that the SCO leaders would approve the proposal.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]
www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the
copyright owner.
