the shanghai cooperation organization (sco): past developments and the outlook

this article reviews past developments of the shanghai cooperation organization (sco) and studies its potentialities in the areas of economy, trade, investment, energy and military power. a study conducted on statistical information of the sco state members shows that the organisation has the capacity to be turned into one of the biggest international hubs in the fields of economy, trade, foreign investment, energy and military in the coming decades. among other factors, vast geographical domain, large population, vast energy reserves, nuclear weapons, sizable armed forces, power of veto in the security council can be mentioned as the reasons behind the sco high economic, political and militarily power; the advantages that iran should definitely benefit from to advance its regional and international relations.