By Rhod Mackenzie
Iran officially became the ninth member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Previously, it was only an observer country in it. "Prime" polled experts about what effect the accession of Moscow's longtime partner - economic or political - will give, and who benefits most from it.
The SCO was founded on June 15, 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The organization also now includes India and Pakistan, three more countries - Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia - have the status of an observer state. The SCO dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.
The goals of the association are to strengthen stability and security, fight against terrorism, develop economic cooperation, energy partnership and scientific and cultural interaction.
Iran became the ninth member of the SCO, Belarus is next in line, reminded Alexander Timofeev. It is obvious that the collective East is becoming the most promising part of the world economy than the collective West.
The total GDP of the SCO with a new member is 24.6 trillion dollars, and the population of the SCO will already be 3.3 billion people. The countries of the association have more than 40 percent of the world's gas and oil reserves.
"And the agricultural capabilities of the participating states have already accounted for almost 40 percent of the world's agricultural turnover," Timofeev added.
BETWEEN MOSCOW AND BEIJING
The SCO was formed in the context of two paradigms: one was represented by Russia, the other by China, explained Sergei Demidenko, Dean of the Faculty of the School of Political Studies of the RANEPA. Moscow wanted the SCO to move towards a military-political organization. Beijing, on the other hand, considered the organization exclusively in an economic context.
And now China is using the SCO in the context of the formation and strengthening of its strategies related to the project "The new silk road" ("New Silk Road"). Consequently, Moscow and Beijing have different views on how Iran can enrich this organization.
Thus, looking at the situation from a Russian angle, Russia gets stronger relations with Tehran and closer cooperation in the military-political field. China, on the contrary, rather sees it as an economic ally: a sales market, a new territory to which it can extend its investment, financial, transport, commodity efforts, Demidenko said.
Iran is almost 80 million people. This is a fairly able-bodied country with a very developed oil industry, especially in the petrochemical sector. In addition, the country has a lot of oil and gas resources that will be very important and needed for other developing members of the SCO, added Murad Sadygzade from the Joint Department of the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, National Research University Higher School of Economics. From this point of view, Tehran will bring great opportunities, profits and the ability for the members of the organization to develop.
In addition, from a military-political point of view, the Islamic Republic is a fairly developed state.
"Today we see their new developments. This is one of the few countries that introduced hypersound to the world, including. The same drones, long-range, medium-range and short-range missiles. Iran has everything, and from this point of view it is developing," Sadygadze explained.
Tehran is already quite tightly integrated into Beijing's foreign economic relations: about 45 percent of Iranian exports go to China, and about 55 percent of Iranian imports come from there. Accordingly, joining the SCO shows some opposition and conditional anti-imperialism of Iran in the context of the anti-American context, Demidenko explained. Iran receives international support. It has finally broken through international isolation and is now becoming part of the international community.
Thanks to the SCO, Tehran will have many opportunities to settle trade, economic and partnership relations with Egypt, with the Islamic and Eastern world, Timofeev said.
WHY IRAN WANTS THE SCO
From the huge list of what Iran can give to the SCO, it is worth highlighting the following:
Iran from list the OPEC countries is in third place in terms of oil production and refining;
Iran has a developed industry, including a military one, which will strengthen the growing trade and power of the SCO, and will provide greater economic security;
Logistics - after all, one coast of Iran is the Caspian Sea, and the second is the Persian Gulf. This is a strong position and a huge opportunity for Iran and the SCO.
Iran is a huge country that is ready to consume Chinese goods, Demidenko continues. In the future, Iran can give China hydrocarbons. However, there is a snag here: the oil sector of the Islamic Republic is quite developed, but the gas sector is not very. Although this is potentially one of the world's richest countries in gas, they cannot develop the gas industry without external investment. Perhaps Iran is counting on Chinese investment, but Beijing is now actively working in this direction with Qatar, so Iranian hopes may not come to fruition.
Therefore, Iran's entry into the SCO is both an economic and a political decision. But if we look at the situation as a whole, then the solution is more economic, Demidenko added.
Sadygadze believes that Iran's entry into the organization is not a political or economic decision, it is the development, expansion of the organization. At the same time, the unification takes place precisely on a regional basis - the countries of the region (Eurasia) are uniting, and all this is due to the fact that the political center is being reoriented towards the Indian Ocean, towards the heart of Eurasia, and this largely contributes to development. And Iran is an integral part of greater Eurasia. This important logistical part will allow all countries, such as India and China, to get fairly good positions, the specialist concluded.
This article originally appeared in Russian at 1prime.ru