By: Javad Masoumi, Iranian researcher and analyst
In the 23rd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was held virtually and chaired by India, the membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this organization was officially announced. Based on this, the Islamic Republic of Iran became the ninth member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Iran becomes a full member of this organization while it has been accepted as an observer member since 2005 and sent its request for full membership to this organization in 2008. Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been a continuation of the successful diplomacy of the 13th government. Therefore, in order to examine the importance of Iran’s membership in Shanghai in various fields, we decided to conduct an interview with Dr. Javad Masoumi, an expert on international issues, and discuss the developments Recently, some questions have been asked.
How is Shanghai organized? Explain about it.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an international organization established by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan in 2001. In 2017, India and Pakistan were also accepted as members. This organization was formed by Russia and China by inviting the four countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to prevent border tensions and organized crimes such as drug trafficking and fighting terrorism, and with India and Pakistan joining this summit, which has nuclear power. There were extensive border tensions and the history of numerous wars, the Shanghai Treaty became the Security and Cooperation Organization of the Asian continent. It is also said that due to the fact that the production and consumption chain can be managed in such agreements, therefore, during the period of sanctions, these agreements are considered good options for avoiding sanctions. On the other hand, because the sanctions have created problems for the transfer of currency to Iran, joining this organization solves this problem, so joining such agreements brings many economic benefits to its members.
What was the reaction of international officials to Iran’s membership in this organization?
Xi Jinping: We will welcome Iran as an official member, we congratulate this country. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization must deal with unilateral sanctions and color revolutions and the interference of foreign powers in the affairs of regional countries.
Putin: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization strongly adheres to the establishment of a fair and multipolar system. Iran has become an official member of the organization and I congratulate Mr. Ebrahim Raisi from the bottom of my heart. Iran can add new capacity to the organization and Russia has always supported Iran’s membership.
Prime Minister of Pakistan: I congratulate the President of the Iranian Presidency on joining the Shanghai Organization. We are really in a very sensitive time and the world is witnessing huge changes in the economic, security and social fields. The Shanghai Organization can have an impact on peace, security and stability, and the value of Shanghai is greater today.
While congratulating Iran on the occasion of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Tajik President Emomali Rahman welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by Belarus to join this organization.
The Prime Minister of India also welcomed Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the signing of the memorandum of intent for Belarus to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The Prime Minister of India also welcomed Iran’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the signing of the memorandum of intent for Belarus to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations: This meeting has been held while we are witnessing an increase in tensions in the world. We can work together in three areas; First, there is the climate crisis; I proposed the climate solidarity agreement, I asked the countries to join hands. Second, humans are moving towards new and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, this requires collaboration to create a network to deal with new challenges. Third, we saw a lot of inflation. After Corona, the global financial structure was deprived of that feature of justice, the banking system was fragmented and billions of dollars were lost to the world’s economies. We seek to reduce injustice and I want to engage with you.
Lukashenko: With the addition of Iran as a new partner, as well as other countries, we hope to be more efficient. Belarus will join this organization in the near future; Regarding the existence of several legal problems in the organization, he said: The members of the organization face challenges such as cybercrimes and the publication of false content. We are ready to cooperate with member countries in the field of training experts. In the economic field, we see that some countries are facing unfair sanctions. Belarus supports a kind of global partnership. We support the establishment of a Shanghai Development Bank. Cultural diversity is another problem that we have to implement joint projects in this field.
In his press conference regarding Iran’s full membership in this regional organization, Nasser Kanani, the spokesman of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: The last step in the process of Iran’s official and full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is that Iran’s membership in this organization is a mutual benefit, this development Positive can significantly increase the added values associated with this organization. This development will be in line with the interests of all member countries.
How do you evaluate the future trends of economic development in light of this?
The fact is that; It is an economic rule that whenever the economy of a country is connected to the economy of other countries; It acts like a magnet, the larger it is, the more the strength of the member’s pull. The main reason for this important event goes back to the authority that has been established in Iran during the last few decades and this authority is still increasing so that the pro-American bloc is also communicating with Iran. Because all economists have well understood that Iran is the crossroad of communication between East and West and North and South, and in this crossroad, Iran provides the flow of economic exchanges between East and West Asia, Southeast and Northwest Asia, the countries of Central Asia, Russia, and Europe. In other words, Iran is the main pillar of communication in today’s world. In addition, joining this agreement will give Iran the capacity to join other regional and international agreements. As an example of future studies, it shows that “ASAN” will establish the same relationship with Iran in the future and Iran can benefit from the advantages of commercial exchanges and preferential tariffs of this agreement.
Could you explain the role of Iran’s authority in this matter?
What is certain is that Iran’s authority caused the Asian Exchange Union, which was unfortunately stagnant until recently, to flourish after many years. In addition to these cases, Iran’s relations with the Persian Gulf countries are also expanding, and this is the reason why Iran’s role in East-West exchanges has been formed and prospered, which can lead to huge transit revenues for us. Therefore, the attraction of huge foreign capital will be one of the consequences and benefits of joining this agreement, and these events will increase the production capacity and radius of Iran’s market, and will cause the domestic producer and investor not to be limited to the entire domestic market, but the capacity of neighbors and member countries of various agreements. should also be taken into account, so this event has a great effect on increasing the scale of production, which increases the scale of production reduces its costs, also considering that the expansion of marketing is formed as a goal in the minds of producers, a part of the investment is injected into the body of research and development And because the production capacity is increased, the employment capacity of young workers, especially in knowledge-based organizations, actually grows.
What have been the results of Iran’s diplomatic interactions in the region and the world?
In general, the expansion of Iran’s diplomatic interactions, including fully joining this agreement, will bring the greatest economic benefits to especially West Asian countries, and this agreement is a spark for the actualization of potential capacities inside and outside the country, as well as joining other regional agreements and international, and on the other hand, one of the benefits of joining such agreements is to remove the dominance of the dollar and then the euro in the exchanges between countries and somehow get out of the dominance of these two currencies. It seems that one of the reasons that other countries and even the countries under American domination such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and even France are abandoning the dollar is the sanctions that the United States imposed by closing SWIFT and prohibiting dollar exchanges with Iran. that these countries realized that this tool could one day end up being detrimental to them. The next important point is that this agreement and similar agreements do not leave any effect on the part of the sanctioning party and the sanctioning party; In this way, Iran’s authority is accompanied by the weakening and weakening of the Western bloc, and we are simultaneously facing two phenomena that are in conflict with each other; This means that Iran’s power is like a scale that increases in front of the other side where the West is located, so when this power is in front of the weakness of the West, not only sanctions will not have any effect.
One of the most important things for Iran to be more productive from these agreements is the infrastructure that it should provide in order to use the Shanghai Agreement more and better. Priority should be given to rail infrastructure and the reason for this emphasis is that it is more economical compared to other transportation methods and lowers the total price and creates good conditions for competitive advantage at the regional and global level; Therefore, the author’s recommendation in this regard is to complete the southeast-northwest, northeast-southwest, east-to-west and south-to-north railway lines in order to build capacity for this cycle of economic exchanges, and in the future, some railway lines should be double-tracked. Among them, the Imam Port to Tehran and the completion of the North-South highway, which of course we need investment in this direction, of course Iran has created a suitable position for investment, and if domestic resources are not enough for investment in this regard, we can attract foreign investors. . Basically, we should also consider the speed in the transfer, which even with the electrification of the lines, it is possible to plan the production capacity based on the international scale.
another matter; Accepting Iran’s permanent membership in this organization can help the member countries to have a common view of the developments in the region, especially Afghanistan. Iran’s entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization comes at a time when there is a growing demand to create new mechanisms in global conditions. Iran’s membership in such a situation is considered an important event, and it must be said that solving issues related to Afghanistan is not possible without Iran. Also, in the meantime, paying attention to the issue of further strengthening the North-South Corridor and increasing and facilitating access in the region due to Iran joining the Shanghai Organization is one of the advantages of this joining. In other words, one of the advantages of Iran’s membership in this organization is Iran’s geographical location, which is a very economical route in terms of transit, especially in the context of the implementation of the Belt and Road Project.
since the policy of the government of the Islamic Republic is to develop relations with neighboring countries, the region and join regional and global organizations; Therefore, in the continuation of these memberships, the issue of Iran’s free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union is mentioned, and the implementation of such a model is possible for Shanghai members.
Explain the development of Iran’s trade according to this membership.
Iran has many economic and geostrategic interests in the region, which Tehran’s geopolitical position, population, energy resources, connectivity potential, human resources and soft power enable Tehran to achieve this goal. Over the years, Iran’s economy has suffered due to Western sanctions.
The United States withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and imposed maximum pressure on Iran. As a result, in order to achieve its economic and strategic goals, Tehran has focused on looking to the East and has changed its foreign policy to “Pivot to the East”. Iran has preferred the policy of being close to its neighbors over distant countries; While strengthening trade can play a significant role in providing the needed support for Iran’s economy, and Shanghai can strengthen Iran’s economy, which is under sanctions, and promote Iran’s trade through flexible trade. Accordingly, regarding this membership, it can be said that this is not a small matter. In the face of American sanctions, membership in this organization will give the Islamic Republic more legitimacy and acceptance in the international arena, and Iran will enter a new phase of cooperation in various fields, including economic, commercial, transit and energy fields. Accordingly, Shanghai can strengthen Iran’s economy, which is under sanctions, and promote Iran’s trade through flexible trade. In addition, the flow of investment will increase and on the other hand the growth of tourism will happen and Iran will have access to an alternative system in the global financial network.
In addition, Iran’s rich oil and gas resources have made Tehran a suitable member to participate in the energy negotiations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Also, Iran can have significant access to Central Asian republics, which can be potential export markets for Iranian goods. The economies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have the potential of multi-billion dollar markets for Tehran, which will provide a good opportunity for business.
What effect does Iran’s membership in Shanghai have on regional developments?
The Islamic Republic of Iran considers its participation in this organization as a means to strengthen external legitimacy, strengthen security-based regionalism, and promote the transitional period of the so-called new multipolar world order. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has acted as a network to protect the Islamic Republic by providing a source of solidarity for Iran against external pressures.
Iran’s official membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization can strengthen the key security goals listed in Article 1 of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s charter, namely “jointly combating the three evils of the region, terrorism, separatism and extremism”; Besides, the Islamic Republic can play a pivotal role in dealing with Afghanistan’s security concerns related to terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational crimes; Because for Iran, establishing stability in Afghanistan or at least minimizing the spillover effects of terrorism or conflict in this country as a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the main priorities.
What is the role of regional corridors after Iran’s membership in this organization?
The geographical location of Iran is very important for Shanghai; Because the Islamic Republic is at the main crossroads connecting the main members of the organization and the dialogue partner countries with each other. Accordingly, considering that Iran seeks to benefit from the existing infrastructure in Asia and neighboring countries, it needs to develop its commercial corridors and ensure safe and fast transportation of goods and services, which can achieve its goals through official membership in this organization. . As a new member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Iran can achieve its long-term goal of becoming a regional hub country by playing a vital role in the North-South transit corridor. In addition to connecting at least four main regions of Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia and the Caucasus, the North-South International Transit Corridor also has a route through Iran. As a new member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Iran can achieve its long-term goal of becoming a regional hub country by playing a vital role in this transit corridor. While he assured the member countries that they will provide safe, reliable and stable routes in the north-south corridor along with providing infrastructure for the southern port of Chabahar. Development and utilization of Chabahar’s capacity and infrastructure can boost trade in the region, especially through the North-South route. Tehran is also keen to develop the Iran-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Corridor, which would connect cities such as Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat directly to the Chabahar port.