Next Sunday, Iran will join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional alliance that brings together China and Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.
"At the next meeting of the Committee of Heads of State of the SCO, which will be held on July 4, the full accession of China will be made official," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.
At that meeting, a memorandum on the "obligations" of Belarus, Moscow's ally, will also be signed, which will also initiate the procedure for entry into full membership of that organization, Lavrov said.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was formed in June 2001 and currently brings together eight countries: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
Iran is now very actively working to reduce its international isolation and is tying more to China and Russia, reconciling with its Arab counterparts but also reducing tensions with Western countries.
In addition to the SCO, Tehran also wants to join as soon as possible another organization in which there are no Western members, BRICS, which gathers South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia.
India has been an observer of the SCO since 2005 and has been granted admission to the organization's 2021 summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
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