Iran VP Aref tells SCO summit in Dushanbe to move beyond condemnation of US measures

Iran's Vice President Mohammadreza Aref addressed the meeting of prime ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, where he focused on the economic consequences of US unilateral measures taken against independent states, according to Mehr News.

Aref said that a sustainable response to shared economic threats cannot be limited merely to condemning them. Instead, he argued, SCO members must strengthen their own economic capacities to address such pressures collectively.

The Iranian vice president presented a set of proposals aimed at deepening economic cooperation within the organization. These included accelerating the establishment of an independent development bank, forming an energy consortium, expanding trade using national currencies, and developing transit corridors among member states.

The report described Aref's remarks as a call for the SCO to go beyond statements of condemnation regarding what it termed US-Israeli aggression and to translate shared concerns into concrete economic mechanisms. The full text of Aref's speech was published in the Mehr News report, which noted that the item was being updated.

According to Mehr News, the SCO prime ministers' meeting in Dushanbe brought together senior officials from member states to discuss regional and economic cooperation.