India’s close partner Iran gets SCO membership at Tuesday’s summit
Iran, one of India's key neighbours, will formally become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at the summit held under New Delhi's presidency on Tuesday in what would further boost connectivity initiatives via INSTC and Chabahar Port. Although Iran originally requested to join the alliance 15 years ago, membership was not approved until 2021 as SCO follows a rigorous process of admission. Iran plays a key role in INSTC and Chabahar Port as India's outreach to Russia and Central Asia.
The SCO was founded in 2001, and its members seek to address shared security challenges, cooperate militarily and advance internal trade. In March 2022, Iran and the group formally began the procedure for Teheran’s membership. Iran committed to joining the SCO by signing a memorandum of understanding in September of that year.
A month later, the Iranian parliament gave its approval for the nation to join the group. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this year emphasised the importance of the SCO in order to promote global cooperation. Raisi stated that the SCO member nations had access to “considerable manpower,” “rich resources,” and “vast geographical expanse” when speaking with SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming in Tehran.
India’s association with SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. India became a full member state of SCO at the Astana summit in 2017, which was a historic moment in India’s engagement with the organisation. In the past six years, India has played a very active and constructive role in all spheres of activities of SCO.
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