The 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit ended on Friday on a positive note. Iran officially joined the SCO, and all the participants signed the Samarkand Declaration in the end.
Iran's full membership in the SCO was announced by the
President of Uzbekistan, which was applauded by the participants. China,
Russia, India, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan attended the 22nd
SCO summit.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi spoke at the second day of
the summit on Friday, stressing that maximum interaction and relation with the
countries of the region, including the SCO states. He also said effective
presence in regional and international orders are the focus of Iran’s foreign
policy.
Uzbekistan, which chaired the SCO for one year, will hand
over the SCO presidency to India. India will assume the next SCO rotating
presidency and hold the next meeting of the council of heads of state of the
SCO in 2023.
During the summit, an agreement was reached on admitting
Bahrain, the Maldives, the UAE, Kuwait and Myanmar as new dialogue partners.
Relevant parties noticed that MOUs granting Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar the status
of SCO dialogue partners had been signed.
The Samarkand Declaration which was signed by all countries
participating in the summit underlined that the world is undergoing global
changes and has entered a new period of rapid development and major
transformation, with the trend towards a multi-polar world intensifying,
countries increasingly interdependent, and informatization and digitalization
accelerating.
“Based on the principles of the Charter of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, the member states oppose grouping, and ideological
and confrontational approaches to solving international and regional issues,
and stick to a coordinated manner to security threats and challenges in
traditional and non-traditional fields,” the declaration added.
Considering the views of the SCO member states, the
declaration reaffirmed that it is of great practical significance to work
together to build a new type of international relations featuring mutual
respect, fairness and justice as well as win-win cooperation, and to build a
community with a shared future for mankind.
In the declaration, the SCO states also emphasized the
continuous implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and
within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
The SCO members also called on the JCPOA parties to commit
to their obligations in line with the comprehensive, full and effective
implementation of the JCPOA.
“The member-states stand for respecting the right of the
people of all countries to independently choose their own paths of political,
economic and social development,” according to the declaration.
The SCO emphasizes continuous implementation of the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) within the framework of UN Security
Council Resolution 2231.
They also reaffirmed that differences and disputes between
countries should be resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation.
Elsewhere in the declaration, the member-states reiterated
their steadfast commitment to combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.
They pointed out that the interference in the internal
affairs of other countries under the pretext of combating terrorism and
extremism is unacceptable, as well as the use of terrorist, extremist and
radical groups for one's own purposes.
The member states underlined the key role of the United
Nations in responding to threats in the information space, calling for creating
a safe, fair and open information space on the basis of respect for sovereignty
and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
The member states that are signatory to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons are committed to strict compliance with
the provisions of the treaty and consolidating the international nuclear
non-proliferation regime, according to the declaration.
The member-states also underlined that the only solution to
regional conflicts is through political and diplomatic means “on the basis of
adherence to universally recognized principles and norms of international law.”
They noted that the coordination of the situation in
Afghanistan at an early date is one of the important factors for maintaining
and consolidating security and stability in the SCO region. The SCO reaffirmed
support for Afghanistan to become “an independent, neutral, united, democratic
and peaceful country, which is free of terrorism, war and drugs.”
