Iran president Rouhani to attend SCO summit
04:08, 13 August 2013
TEHRAN. August 13. KAZINFORM Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will pay an official visit to the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek in September to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Press TV reported on Sunday.
Iranian president is expected to meet and hold talks with some of his counterparts on the sidelines of the summit to be held on September 13.
Rouhani's visit to the central Asian country will be his first foreign trip since taking office on August 4.
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran currently has observer status in the organization and applied for full membership on 24 March, 2008. However, because of ongoing sanctions levied by the United Nations, it is blocked from admission as a new member. The SCO stated that any country under UN sanctions cannot be admitted.
Source: Xinhuanet.com