"I think that the West's unilateral sanctions against Iran won't prevent the country's membership in an important regional organization like the SCO," Iran's Economic Attaché in Dushanbe Mohammad Hossein Hashemifar told an international forum in Tajikistan on Saturday.
He said that Iran is now trying to deflate international pressures and remove the economic sanctions within the framework of talks with the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany).
Hashemifar underscored that turning the SCO observer states (like Iran) to permanent members will further strengthen the regional body and increase its political and economic clout and capabilities, indicating that the regional grouping benefits from Iran's accession and the western sanctions cannot weaken this zeal.
Iran along with Afghanistan, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan are observer states of the SCO.
The SCO Business Council was established in June 2006.
It is a non-governmental body, which brings together the most influential members of the business communities of the six member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan).
Boosting economic cooperation in the framework of the SCO, establishing direct links and dialogue among business and financial circles of the SCO member states are some of the main objectives of the SCO Business Council.
