INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines
of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and expressed his happiness about Tehran joining the
eight-member bloc.The SCO heads of state are expected to finalize the admission of Iran and grant the status of a dialogue partner to Egypt,
Iran to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Our partners in this organization have supported your application, all that is left is one last formality
TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying.Putin also stressed that Moscow and Tehran share similar views on many international issues.He
Press TV, Putin also said a delegation of 80 large Russian companies are set to visit Iran next week.Founded in 2001, the current members of
the SCO are India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia
being the observer countries.The partner countries to the SCO include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.On
Thursday, Raisi also met SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming and his counterparts from Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, IRNA
