BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. At the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will be held on July 4, Iran is expected to be fully accepted into the organization, Trend reports.
This information was confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the presentation of the SCO National Center for People's Diplomacy.
"Iran's full-scale membership will be officially accepted at the upcoming meeting on July 4, and a memorandum on Belarus' obligations to join the SCO will be signed. This event will launch the procedure for Belarus' full-fledged entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," Lavrov said.
The SCO focuses on cooperation with international and regional organizations. The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year.
It is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 percent of the area of Eurasia, 40 percent of the world population. The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 between the People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.