Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- The presence of Islamic Republic in the 8th Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization would help boost the organization, Kazakh Ambassador to Tehran Yerik Utembayev said on Thursday.
He made the remarks while was addressing the 13th Anniversary of Constitution of Kazakhstan in Tehran, supporting Iran’s presence in the SCO summit.
Referring to the observer status of Islamic Republic in SCO, Utembayev expressed hope that the membership of Iran in the SCO would be addressed during the event, the Islamic republic news agency reported.
He also added Iran and Kazakhstan have joint stance towards the Persian Gulf issues.
Given the next Tehran-Dushanbe joint economic commission which is due to be held next month, he underlined that the two sides are ready to boost the mutual economic ties.
The Kazakh envoy put the volume of Iran-Kazakh trade at dlrs 2.9 billion, expressing hope the figure could increase to dlrs 10 billion in near future.
The 8th Summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization kicked off in Dushanbe today in the presence of senior delegates from the member states.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived in the Tajik capital on Wednesday to attend the summit at the invitation of his Tajik counterpart Imomali Rakhmon.
During the daylong meeting, several topics including current status in Afghanistan and the Caucasus, energy crisis in Central Asia, and settlement of regional crises are discussed.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are the SCO permanent members, while Iran, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan have observer status.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Energy Minister Parviz Fattah, and senior presidential advisor, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi are accompanying the Iranian president.
SCO is an intergovernmental economic organization which was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
