Assessing the Impact of Trade Market Diversification and Regionalism on Iran's Economy

This article aims to evaluate the efficiency and prioritization of Iran's accession to the two economic institutions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union using the combined method of data envelopment analysis (DEA) - analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results show that with regard to the geographical area, labor force population, GDP and inflation as inputs to the economy, as well as the volume of trade with the world, the degree of trade openness and the degree of financial openness as three outputs, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has a better score than the Eurasian Economic Union during the years 2000-2018. Therefore, it is suggested that capacities and negotiations for permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization be given priority in Iran's foreign trade policies.