. Earth Science News .
TRADE WARS
Iran looks east after China-led bloc OKs entry
By Sammy Ketz
Tehran (AFP) Sept 18, 2021

Iran on Saturday hailed its acceptance into a China and Russia-led bloc, an eastward turn it sees as opening access to major world markets and a counter to crippling Western sanctions.

Conservative and reformist newspapers showed rare unity in welcoming the outcome of a conference in Dushanbe on Friday at which members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation endorsed Iran's future membership in the bloc.

"It is a strategic and diplomatic success," said ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi following his return home on Saturday.

The eight-member SCO group, created two decades ago and which also includes India, promotes itself as an antidote to Western dominance.

The bloc's decision on Iran comes with negotiations at a standstill on bringing Washington back into a 2015 nuclear accord. Then president Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions.

"Iran integrates into the biggest market of the East," a headline in the Javan newspaper said, calling the SCO "one of the principal symbols of cooperation of non-Western powers opening the door to a post-American era."

- 'Deflect sanctions'

Kayhan, like Javan an ultraconservative title, headlined its lead story in large type: "Deflecting Western sanctions."

In Kayhan's view, "from now on Iran can implement its policy of multilateralism, progressively abandon a vision based solely on the West and mitigate Western sanctions."

Etemad, a newspaper representing reformists who call for more social freedoms in the Islamic republic, expressed a view similar to that of the ultraconservatives.

It said SCO membership would permit Iran "to connect with markets" representing a major portion of the world's population.

Iran, one of four SCO observer states, had applied for full membership in 2008 but its bid was slowed by UN and US sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.

Several SCO members did not want a country under international sanctions in their ranks.

The 2015 agreement, aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining an atomic bomb, provided economic relief in return for a sharp scaling back of the country's nuclear activities, but Trump's withdrawal started the deal's unravelling.

Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia remain in the agreement, and US President Joe Biden has expressed readiness to rejoin them but talks have so far made little headway.

- Investment opportunity -

Last year, Iran again failed to attain SCO membership because of a refusal by Tajikistan but on Friday it found the door to membership wide open.

For Iranian international relations expert Fayaz Zahed, Moscow and Beijing endorsed Tehran's membership because they expect the nuclear issue to be resolved.

"The SCO countries think Iran is going to abide by the international accords as the sanctions have been the main obstacle to its membership" in the bloc, Zahed told AFP.

Russia, China and India are all waiting for a lifting of the economic penalties so that they can invest in Iran, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Iran's membership had been unanimously accepted.

SCO leaders did not, however, announce a timeline for Iran's accession.

Apart from Russia and China, the other founding members are the former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

India and Pakistan were admitted in 2017.

Together they represent around 40 percent of the world's population and more than 20 percent of global gross domestic product -- an immense potential market for Tehran.

Iran's president, in his address to the SCO, called the sanctions "economic terrorism" and "the most important tool of the hegemonic powers for imposing their will on others."

Raisi, who succeeded moderate Hassan Rouhani in August, added that such economic penalties are "a major obstacle to the promotion of regional integration and the SCO should design structures and mechanisms to present a collective response to sanctions."

Two-way trade between Iran and SCO member states was valued at $28 billion for the Iranian year ended March 2021, according to Tehran.

China accounted for $18.9 billion of that.

But Iran sees political as well as economic benefits in the SCO.

"The world has entered a new era. Hegemony and unilateralism have failed," Raisi said.

"The international balance from now on leans towards multilateralism and the redistribution of powers towards independent countries. Unilateral sanctions don't uniquely target one country. It has become evident that, in recent years, they affect more the independent countries, especially SCO members."


Related Links
Global Trade News


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


TRADE WARS
China applies to join trans-Pacific free-trade pact
Beijing (AFP) Sept 16, 2021
China has formally applied to join a major trans-Pacific trade partnership, its commerce ministry said late Thursday, despite rising geopolitical tensions with member country Australia. Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, the partnership is the region's biggest free-trade pact and accounts for around 13.5 percent of the global economy. "On September 16, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao submitted China's official application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-P ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

TRADE WARS
U.S. Navy, Lebanese military to improve construction, humanitarian capabilities

Mexico's suit against US gunmakers edges ahead

Plea for Haiti aid amid political crisis, quake clean-up

Climate change could force 216 million from their homes: World Bank

TRADE WARS
Nine ways AR and VR used on the International Space Station

Now we're cooking with lasers

Engineering researchers develop new explanation for formation of vortices in 2D superfluid

Researchers find a new way to control magnets

TRADE WARS
Report: Global warming is causing 'unprecedented changes' to oceans

Battling to 'replant' Albania's threatened marine forests

Damaged coral reefs cause decline in fisheries, risks for coastal communities

Egypt, Sudan back resumed Nile dam talks as UN urges deal

TRADE WARS
Dynamics behind the remarkable August 2018 Greenland polynya formation

On thin ice: Near North Pole, a warning on climate change

UMass Amherst researcher to unravel the "last great Arctic mystery"

Biden admin. moves to block controversial Alaska gold mine

TRADE WARS
Banana plantations offer bats 'fast food,' but alter gut microbiomes for the worse

Leonardo DiCaprio invests in two lab-grown meat startups

Wolf hunting ban pits farmers against conservationists in Spain

Australia asks WTO to rule against Chinese wine tariffs

TRADE WARS
South Sudanese refugees homeless again after Sudan floods

Volcano lava destroys 320 buildings on Spanish island

Canaries volcano razes hundreds of buildings as lava creeps to sea

Rare Australia earthquake triggers panic in Melbourne

TRADE WARS
Algeria ex-presidential candidate jailed for four years

Strikes paralyse hospitals in Guinea-Bissau

DR Congo rebel jailed for life for war crimes, environmental harm

French defence minister warns Mali against Russian 'mercenary' firm

TRADE WARS
Early humans moved into subarctic climates earlier than thought, study says

Study suggests earliest use of bone tools to produce clothing in Morocco 120,000 years ago

The world's languages may be so similar because of how humans talk about language

Milk fueled migration across Eurasian steppe 5,000 years ago









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.