President Raeisi to visit Tajikistan for SCO summit

Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi will make his first official visit as the Iranian president to Tajikistan for participation in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said.

According to Tasnim news agency, in comments at an online press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh said President Raeisi is scheduled to visit Tajikistan in his first foreign trip after taking office.

He said the presidential visit to Tajikistan will pursue two purposes, participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit and holding talks about Tehran-Dushanbe relations.

“The president’s office and the Foreign Ministry are working on extensive plans about both aspects. The necessary arrangements have been made by Dushanbe and the Iranian Embassy in Tajikistan,” Khatibzadeh added.

Asked about the possibility of finalization of Iran’s accession to the SCO in the upcoming summit, the spokesman said Iran’s request to join the SCO will be considered in the meeting, hoping that desirable results would be achieved.

Tajikistan will be hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on September 16-17 in Dushanbe.

The Iranian spokesman further noted that Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was planned to visit India, but the trip has been rescheduled because of several events, such as the presidential visit to Tajikistan and a number of other major meetings in the foreign policy sphere.

ME