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ISLAMABAD: While a detailed assessment of Iran’s membership of the SCO had to wait till the 2023, i.e., till the time the membership fully came into effect, it was agreeable that the membership bore incredible potential for Iran, said Ms Silvia Boltuc, Managing Editor, Special Eurasia, Italy. She was addressing a webinar titled Iran’s Pivot to East: SCO Membership and Regional Dynamics organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). She said that although the prevailing perception about the SCO in the West was that of a forum for economic cooperation, for Iran, the SCO was more than that and served as an opportune forum to pursue its security and intra-regional trade interests. Infrastructural development and integration of the region were important for Iran, she added. Moreover, Ms Boltuc said that considering the fact that most of the SCO members were involved in Afghanistan, could also mean amicable grounds for multilateral cooperation. She said that the SCO and the North-South Transit Corridor could be linked together and the EU could avail energy benefits from this mechanism.
Dr Javad Heiran, Director, Persian Gulf Studies Group, was of the opinion that the Iran’s pivot towards the East was focused towards enhancing regionalism and could add to its own strategic value in the region while simultaneously dealing with the threats emerging from the West in the Middle East. He added that the SCO could serve as the portal to provide political leverage to Iran which was imperative to balance the growing Western influence.
Syed Fraz Hussain Naqvi, Research Lead Iran Program at IRS remarked that Iran’s membership of the SCO and its Look East policy was a reflection of its disappointment from the Vienna Talks. He said that the SCO could play a vital role in resolving the Afghanistan issue considering its resolve towards facilitating regionalism and a vital multilateral channel for Pak-Iran trade since bilateral trade was minimum due to sanctions.
