Veep says broadening regional cooperation Iran’s priority

The 21st meeting of the prime ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held virtually on Tuesday with First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber representing Iran.

In his address to the meeting, which was held via video-conferencing, Mokhber said, “The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran prioritizes developing cooperation and deepening relations with neighboring and regional countries, as well as benefiting from its regional and international capacities and arrangements.”

The first Iranian vice president also emphasized the importance of factors that help regional security and strengthen regional relations and create an advanced model of sustainable integration, especially with the SCO member states.

Creating a common financial system and using regional currencies for the development of trade, creating a joint mechanism for trade, exchange, and energy security, implementing an integrated management system for transit corridors and cooperation in the field of international information security among member states were among the proposals that the Iranian first vice president offered in the meeting.

Mokhber further said Iran is ready to materialize the suggestion which was included in the “Energy Security Statement” issued after the SCO meeting in Samarkand earlier this year.

“We are ready to start a dialogue between producers and consumers in the SCO within the framework of the initiative proposed by president Raeisi of the Islamic President of Iran to the gas exporting countries called “Gas in the service of recovery of the global economy in the post-Coronavirus period’,” he added.

“The transportation and transit network of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the ports available at the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Oman Sea, and the Indian Ocean are important economic advantages that not only strengthen trade networks among the member states but also they reduce time and expenses, facilitate transportation of goods and services among them,” the first vice president added.

Elsewhere, Mokhber further stressed that international information security and cyberspace are other important areas of cooperation that the SCO member states must pay attention to more than before, which was also included in an agreement in that regard among member states signed in 2009 and voiced Iran’s readiness for practical cooperation with the SCO members to eliminate the threats mentioned in the aforementioned agreement.

“Extremism and terrorism, which were on the agenda of the SCO from the very beginning, continue to threaten the stability and security of our region,” he said adding that the United States and the Zionist Israeli regime back the terrorism and extremism in the region.

MNA/5622137