Indian FM Notes Progress on Iran’s Admission to SCO

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar noted the progress made on Belarus’ and Iran’s path to become full-fledged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“I’m happy to note the progress on ongoing process for the admission of Iran and Belarus as full members of the SCO. I thank the Secretariat for their efforts in that direction. Similarly I’m delighted that four new Dialogue Partners will sign the MOU [memorandum of understanding] for their association with SCO today in Goa. We welcome our new Dialogue Partners and hope to intensify engagement with them in the SCO format,” he said at a SCO foreign ministers summit on Friday, Sputnik reported. 
India, as 2023 SCO chair, hosted the two-day summit of foreign ministers from May 4-5.
The participants of the talks discussed the expansion of the organization, in particular, they were to approve a Heads of State Council’s draft decision on granting Iran member state status and discuss Belarus’s request to accelerate its admission process. Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, Maldives and the United Arab Emirates will also be granted the status of Dialogue Partners of the SCO.
The heads of state SCO summit will take place in New Delhi from July 3-4.
The SCO is an international cooperation organization founded by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan in 2001. In 2017, India and Pakistan were also admitted to the organization. Belarus, along with Afghanistan, Iran and Mongolia, is an SCO observer country.