TEHRAN – Iran’s president is expected to leverage the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) leaders’ summit in China to expand the country’s trade opportunities, the head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce said.

Majidreza Hariri told IRNA in an interview that with representatives from more than 35 countries attending, the summit offers a “golden chance” for Iran to advance its economic diplomacy.

He said President Masoud Pezeshkian’s participation could strengthen bilateral ties with China and create broader opportunities for Iranian exporters.

“Iran already has active trade with China, but the value of this summit lies in the presence of dozens of other countries, opening doors for wider cooperation,” Hariri said. He pointed to SCO communiqués stressing support for multilateral trade and green industry, saying Iran should capitalize on these frameworks to expand its reach.

Hariri noted that the president’s delegation includes senior officials and business representatives, who are expected to use the sidelines of the summit for negotiations. “We should await the president’s report on the outcome to see how far it contributes to expanding trade exchanges,” he said.

The SCO, founded in 1996 as a Eurasian political and economic bloc to counterbalance U.S. and NATO influence, has nine full members: China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Observer members include Mongolia, Afghanistan and Belarus, while dialogue partners range from Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan to Persian Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Iran became a full SCO member in July 2023, a move officials described as a strategic milestone in accessing regional markets.

Pezeshkian, attending the summit in Tianjin, also held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Tajikistan’s president and the U.N. secretary-general on the sidelines.

EF/MA