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By Trend

Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) could consolidate the organization’s authority, Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Emil Kaykiev told Trend.

“Iran’s membership in SCO is an important issue. Kyrgyzstan positively assesses Iran’s aspiration to gain the status of SCO member state,” he said.

Kyrgyzstan believes that Iran’s participation in SCO as a member state could increase the organization’s potential and would contribute to increasing its role on the international arena, added Kaykiev.

“Kyrgyzstan and Iran have every opportunity to deepen and intensify their bilateral relations in all priority areas of mutually beneficial cooperation,” said the deputy foreign minister.

The SCO was established in 2001. On June 9, heads of SCO member states approved applications of India and Pakistan for full SCO membership at the organization’s summit.

Now SCO’s members are China, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are the SCO observer countries, while Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

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