TEHRAN
- One year after the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization agreed to Iran's permanent accession, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and Zhang Ming, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Organization, signed Wednesday evening in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a memorandum of commitment to Iran's permanent membership in the organization.
Abdullahian wrote in a tweet on Twitter, "We have now entered a new phase of various forms of economic, trade, transit, energy and other cooperation," stressing that the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Organization offered his congratulations on the occasion of Iran's permanent accession to the organization, and considered the signing of the document an "important development."
Nearly 16 years after Tehran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an observer member, Iran's signing of the memorandum of commitments to permanent membership in the Asian bloc raised questions about the feasibility of the step, its impact on easing US sanctions, and the challenges facing the advancement of the Iranian economy in the coming period.
In this report, Al Jazeera Net attempts to answer these and other questions by hosting experts in political economy and international relations.
Why did Tehran strive over the past years to obtain full membership in the Shanghai Organization?
What does joining this eastern bloc mean for Tehran?
Political economy researcher, Mahdi Khorsand, believes that Tehran sees full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - as an eastern organization - as a gateway to breaking Western unilateralism and balancing its relationship with Western countries that have been affected by its nuclear file, stressing that his country has made great efforts to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Since 2005, however, it has faced the wall of UN sanctions more than once until it was lifted under the nuclear agreement in 2015.
Khorsand explained to Al-Jazeera Net, that Tehran joined the organization in 2005 as an observer member and was about to join it fully after the lifting of UN sanctions, but its attempts failed due to the opposition of some member states in Shanghai with the inclusion of a country subject to extensive US sanctions, especially after the US withdrawal in 2018. from the nuclear deal.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry was eventually able to overcome the obstacles and win the approval of the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to accept its membership at the Dushanbe Summit in 2021, according to Khorsand, who confirmed that his country has been working since last year to complete the membership procedures and prepare the necessary documents, in addition to the government's approval of the list of accession to Shanghai. And send it to Parliament to take its legal course.
Perhaps the main incentive for Iran to join Shanghai for cooperation is the presence of the triad of eastern powers (Russia, China and India) in the organization - and Khorsand's speech - and the high position these countries enjoy at various political, economic and military levels in the world, stressing that his country is able to play a role It is prominent among these countries, especially in the field of goods transit, security, military and economic cooperation.
What does the memorandum of undertakings for permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization mean?
Has Iran become a permanent member of the organization?
Khorsand describes the stage of signing the memorandum of obligations, as the gateway to permanent accession to the Shanghai Organization, but it is not equal to formal accession as a permanent member of it, explaining that it is the penultimate stage, and it is assumed that Iran's acceptance of a permanent member of the organization will be announced at the next summit to be held in India.
He added that the process of Iran's accession as a permanent member of the Shanghai Organization has started since the approval of all the bloc's members at the Dushanbe Summit in 2021, and that the signing of the memorandum of undertakings for permanent membership in it is an understanding to complete the process, and has taken it one step closer to the official announcement of that.
What are the potential gains from the admission of all SCO countries to Iran's permanent membership in the organization?
Political economy researcher Mahdi Khorsand believes that his country is seeking to reap many gains at the various political, security, military and economic levels, noting that in light of Western pressures on Iran, his country attaches great importance to the trade aspect with the Shanghai countries.
He referred to the Shanghai countries' share in the global economy, stressing that Tehran's permanent membership in Shanghai will open its markets to the Iranians, in addition to strengthening its position at the international level and undermining the continuing Western pressure on it.
He described his country's energies in the field of transit and energy as very large, and that it will receive the attention of the countries of Shanghai, stressing that the international corridors in his country will facilitate trade between the countries of Shanghai on the one hand, and between the member states with the African continent and the countries of Southwest Asia on the other hand, not to mention that they It will connect the markets of eastern countries such as China and India with European markets.
He pointed out that about half of the world's population resides in the countries of the Shanghai Organization, which constitute more than 20% of the output of the global economy, stressing that Tehran's official presence alongside the eastern powers will strengthen its economy and prevent it from making concessions in the nuclear negotiations in order to ease the economic pressures imposed on it.
On social media platforms, the Iranian move received the interaction of the tweeters, as the director of the Arab Center for Iranian Studies, Muhammad Saleh Seddian, wrote on Twitter, "This step helps Iran a lot in cooperating with the countries of the organization and gives it a vital space to support its economy, especially with China, India and Russia. Which makes it manage Its nuclear negotiations are in some kind of relaxation."
Mahdi Khorsand says that Tehran sees full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a gateway to breaking Western unilateralism (Al-Jazeera)
How did the reality of trade between Iran and the member states of the Shanghai Organization become even on the eve of the Samarkand Summit?
During the first five months of the Iranian year (beginning on March 21 last), Iran's non-oil trade with the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization amounted to 21 million and 415 thousand tons, worth 17 billion and 56 million dollars, according to the spokesman for the Iranian Customs Authority, Ruhollah Latifi. .
Latifi explained to Al Jazeera Net, that his country's non-oil trade witnessed a growth of 31% during the past five months compared to the same period last year, stressing that Iranian exports of goods to Shanghai countries amounted to 17 million and 381 thousand tons, with a value of 9 billion and 78 million dollars, registering an increase By 10% compared to the same period last year.
The spokesman for the Iranian Customs Authority added that China (6 billion and 722 million dollars), India (729 million dollars), Afghanistan (641 million dollars), Pakistan (475 million dollars) and Russia (291 million dollars), have been the top importers of Iranian goods during the past five months.
Also, China (5 billion and 518 million dollars), India (1 billion and 159 million dollars), Russia (715 million dollars), Pakistan (430 million dollars) and Kazakhstan (more than 78 million dollars), occupied the top five countries among the exporters of goods to Iran. According to Latifi.
How will Iran benefit from joining the Shanghai Organization to mitigate the effects of Western sanctions?
The researcher in international relations, Farzad Ramadani Punch, reads that his country joined the Asian organization within the framework of neighborhood diplomacy and headed east in order not to link the national economy and the citizen’s livelihood with the relationship with Western countries, adding that the current Iranian government is paying great attention to developing its relations with the poles of the Shanghai Organization, China and Russia. And I signed several treaties with them over the past year.
Proceeding from the proverb, "the bereaved loves the bereaved", Bunch - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - sees Western and American pressures on Iran, Russia and China as a common factor that brings these countries closer and urges them to develop their commercial and financial relations;
Which contributes to circumventing the sanctions and mitigating their effects on the countries affiliated with the organization.
The Iranian researcher concluded that his country's accession to Shanghai for cooperation will open up great economic and trade prospects for it, "as well as thwart Western plans aimed at isolating and putting pressure on Tehran," stressing that Iranian energy surplus markets and the return of its revenues to Tehran are among the things that will be guaranteed in the Shanghai Organization. Sanctions imposed on Iran's oil exports and financial exchanges will fail.
The Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, Mahdi Safari, announced last June that his country had formally proposed to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to adopt a unified currency for financial exchanges between member states, adding that if the proposal was implemented, it could facilitate trade between member states.
Farzad Bunch confirms that the markets of Iranian surplus energy and the return of its revenues to Tehran are among the things that will be guaranteed in the Shanghai Organization (Al-Jazeera)
What obligations are required from Iran for permanent accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?
Poonch said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed, prior to the departure of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi for Uzbekistan's Samarkand to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, that it had prepared between 400 and 500 contracts and documents in the context of the commitments and obligations that should be implemented for permanent membership in the organization.
The Iranian researcher added that there is no additional information about the documents and obligations that Iran is required to implement, but there is no doubt that most of them include protocol matters, while some sources talked about the need to lift UN sanctions and ratify international laws such as laws related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, And other obligations such as joining the Eurasian Economic Forum, and entering into free trade with the five member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
What are the real challenges to Iran's flourishing economic cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Countries?
The researcher in international relations, Ismail Mokhtari, sees the Western sanctions imposed on Tehran due to its nuclear file, its missile program and its regional policies as a challenge to trade cooperation between Iran and other countries, stressing that Tehran’s failure to ratify the laws of the Financial Action Task Force “FATF” related to combating money laundering and terrorist financing. You will make investing in Iran and trading and financial exchange with it a risk.
The newspaper "Satara Sobh" quoted Mokhtari as saying that most of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have relations with the United States and the European Union and want sound and calm economic relations with other countries.
This means that the failure to lift sanctions on Tehran and its failure to ratify the FATF laws will negatively affect its economic relations with other countries, including the Shanghai Cooperation Council members.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001 in the presence of China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, then India and Pakistan joined in 2017. Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia are observers in the organization, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the dialogue partners of the organization.