Iran's Foreign Minister said yesterday his country has applied to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security group.

The SCO was created 11 years ago to address religious extremism and border security in Central Asia, but more countries have expressed willingness for its membership.

Iran currently has observer status in the organization, as do Afghanistan, India, Mongolia and Pakistan. Along with China and Russia, the body's permanent members are the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"Tajikistan has given us its support over this matter," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said after meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon in the capital, Dushanbe.

Rakhmon visited Iran last month to hold talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The topics included increasing military cooperation.

Mottaki's announcement may raise concerns in the West that membership in the SCO could complicate efforts to dissuade Teheran from continuing activities that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Mottaki said Iran remained open to cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/25/2008 page11)