Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heading a high-ranking delegation left Tehran on Wednesday for Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Energy Minister Parviz Fattah, and senior presidential advisor, Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi are accompanying the Iranian president to Dushanbe.
Ahmadinejad will attend the summit at the invitation of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and is scheduled to address the summit Thursday. He will also review the latest regional and international developments with his counterparts participating in the summit.
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are the permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) while Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan participate as observers.
Earlier this year, Iran applied to become a formal member while Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhan Zarifi said his country is interested in seeing it join the organization.
"Iran plays a crucial role in the region," he said, adding that the Islamic Republic's bonds with the SCO would empower the organization.
Iran's English-language Press TV satellite said Sunday that Ahmadinejad is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev during the summit. The two sides will discuss further expansion of bilateral ties and regional and international issues.
SCO is an inter-governmental organization which was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: Xinhua
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