Iran and India Headline Shanghai Cooperation Organization Meeting
Uzbekistan hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s meeting in Tashkent on November 1. At the 18th Council of Heads of Government of SCO Member States, members of the SCO continued their discussion of topics ranging from regional economic and security challenges to extremism and counter-narcotic efforts in neighboring Afghanistan. Iran, currently an observer state within the SCO, continued its efforts to become a full member of the organization, and India attempted to guide the conversation towards substantive topics such as terrorism and climate change.
"In the face of the US government's call for unilateralism, we should help promote multilateralism by strengthening regional organizations,” said Es’haq Jahangiri, the First Vice President of Iran. Jahangiri lauded the SCO as an organization with “large capacities for economic, diplomatic and security cooperation based on which the members states can promote their cooperation.” For the past several years, Iran has been attempting to gain full membership in the SCO, ands its efforts are supported by the governments of Russia and China.
The heavy sanctions on Iran have been hindering its efforts to join the organization. Although many of those sanctions were lifted once the 2015 nuclear deal was reached, there remains a number of bilateral issues that Iran must address with Central Asian countries before a vote on Iraninan membership in the SCO. Jahangiri was joined by Transport and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Eslami and Trade and Industry Minister Reza Rahmani during his two-day trip to Tashkent.
This year marked India’s third time attending a Council of Heads of Government meeting since joining the SCO in 2017. The Indian Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh, represented India at the SCO this year. “India is actively engaged in various SCO cooperation activities/dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as to further develop multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework,” said a spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry.
Similar to Iran, India advocates for multilateral regional problem-solving and cooperating towards creating new opportunities for growth. “Terrorism continues to disrupt our societies and undermine our developmental endeavours. It is important for SCO countries to come together to deal with this menace,” said Singh. Other issues that Singh addressed at the conference included climate change, inequality, endemic poverty, agricultural education, and the medical industry.
The SCO has not announced any plans to invite Iran into the organization. However, any such plans may be contingent upon Iran resolving its disputes with the other members of the organization. Regardless, both Iran and India’s calls for multilateralism demonstrate a strong desire for further cooperation.