21st SCO summit kicks off in presence of Iran president

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon along with top officials from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran are present in the event, while presidents of Russia, China, India, and Mongolia take part in the summit via video conferencing.

According to Tajikistan’s media, this year’s summit is going to review results of 20 years of the SCO’s activities, as well as the current situation and future outlook of multilateral cooperation of the member states of the organization.

The heads of states will also discuss regional and international collaborations and hold talks on joint acts in order to control the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the member states.

Following the summit, the heads of states are going to discuss the issue of changing Iran’s situation to become a member state and providing Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia with the opportunity of turning into dialogue partners.

They are expected to hold consultations about the next director general of the SCO and the director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) affiliated to the organization.

It is worth mentioning that the summit is being held amid the exacerbation of tensions in Afghanistan following the takeover of power by Taliban, when there are different stances on the developments in the war-stricken country.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an effective regional and intra-state organization, which was established by leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 2001.

The SCO consists of eight permanent member states, including India, Kazakhstan, China, Kirgizstan, Pakistan, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Four states of Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, and Iran are still observer members; and six countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

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