"The next candidate, according to Russia, following India and Pakistan, should be Iran, as well as other states that meet our criteria for the SCO membership," Russian president’s special envoy to the SCO, Bakhtier Khakimov, announced during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday.
"It is about the potential that the SCO has - 24 percent of the world GDP after the accession. Today we see the wide geographic scope of the organization - 18 member states, observers and dialogue partners," Sputnik quoted Khakimov as saying.
According to the envoy, the SCO has a great potential to become a key international platform.
The SCO is an intergovernmental international organization, established in June 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan.
At a summit in Uzbekistan in June 2016, the SCO leaders signed memorandums on the accession of India and Pakistan to the organization.
The SCO’s 2017 summit is going to be held in Astana on June 8 and 9.
The organization seeks to strengthen mutual trust and good neighborly ties between the member countries, contribute to regional stability and facilitate cooperation in different sectors, including political, trade, economic and energy issues.