Tehran (IP) - The Spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi, announced a 31% growth in Iran's trade with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Iran PressIran News: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001. The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia), and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey). In 2021, the decision was made to start the accession process of Iran to the SCO as a full member, and Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia became dialogue partners. 

Since its inception in 2001, the SCO has mainly focused on regional security issues, its fight against regional terrorism, ethnic separatism, and religious extremism. To date, the SCO’s priorities also include regional development.

The SCO has been an observer in the UN General Assembly since 2005. 

The Spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Seyyed Rouhollah Latifi, said on Saturday that Iran's trade with member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization stood at 21.4 million tons worth $17.56 billion in the five months to Aug. 22, 2022. This is 31% more than the corresponding period of last year.  

Latifi added: "Iran's export was nearly 17.4 million tons with a value of almost 9.8 billion dollars, which has grown by 10%, and imports have reached more than 4.3 million tons, worth 8 billion dollars, which has increased by 68%."

China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia are the five countries Iran exports to the most, the spokesman noted.

The five members that Iran imports the most are China, India, Russia, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

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