The Importance of the presence of the Head of the Judiciary at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a highly significant regional organization with considerable influence in trans regional and international equations. In addition to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the organization has nine other members. Iran maintains strong economic and commercial cooperation with all nine members and enjoys good political relations with these countries.

The SCO holds a very prominent position. Since Iran was accepted as a member in 2020, it has participated in nearly 200 meetings across various fields with the organization and its members, covering political, military, security, economic, commercial, legal, judicial, and other topics.

The development of legal and judicial cooperation by the Islamic Republic of Iran within this organization can pave the way for collaboration in other areas, facilitating and accelerating the expansion of commercial, economic, trade, and even political relations.

The trip of the Head of the Judiciary to China to participate in this meeting can strengthen and institutionalize Iran's legal and judicial cooperation with the SCO. Additionally, it provides an excellent opportunity for bilateral negotiations with member states.

Typically, legal and judicial agreements are negotiated and signed in four areas at the international level. Iran has nearly finalized negotiations for these agreements with all SCO member states. The participation of the Head of the Judiciary in the annual meeting of heads of judicial systems of SCO member states, along with bilateral meetings on the sidelines, can certainly smooth the path for finalizing these agreements.

In today's world, where economic diplomacy has gained a prominent place alongside political diplomacy, legal and judicial diplomacy holds equal weight and must be recognized as such.

The world is moving toward a state where many developments are shaped through legal and judicial diplomacy, and many disputes and conflicts between countries take on legal forms. Thus, legal warfare has become a defining feature of interactions among nations today. The more we strengthen the legal and judicial diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the more effectively and comprehensively we can counter countries that adopt hostile stances or pursue measures and ideas that challenge our nation.

The Ministry of Justice has significant capacity for legal and judicial diplomacy. This capacity is fully at the disposal of the Judiciary to implement and operationalize the directives of the Head of the Judiciary in the realm of legal and judicial diplomacy.