India, Pakistan become SCO members
By Kamila Aliyeva
Astana hosted the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on June 9.
The leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan participated in the meeting.
In his welcoming speech, Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has received international recognition and has become an effective platform, and today’s meeting is held for the last time in six-sided format.
“Today we agreed to sign a decision on the completion of the procedure for admission and granting the status of a SCO member state to the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Admission of new members for us is a new impulse in the development of the organization, and it will promote growth and international prestige," Nazarbayev said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, expressed confidence that the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will contribute to the growth of its power and influence in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres, TASS reported.
"The expansion of the SCO will undoubtedly contribute to the fact that it will become more powerful and influential in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres," he said at the summit.
The president noted that the integration of economic projects into the entire SCO space will allow uniting the potentials of large multilateral projects in Eurasia.
"As for the economic aspects, I am sure that we should focus on consolidation of efforts, coordination of national strategies and multilateral projects throughout the SCO space," he said adding that "the goal is to unite the potentials of the EurAsEC, the SCO, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Chinese initiative – ‘One Belt, One Way’."
Following the meeting, the leaders of the SCO countries approved the membership of India and Pakistan in the organization.
The heads of state also signed the Astana Declaration and adopted the SCO Convention on Countering Extremism.
In addition, a joint action plan to implement the program of cooperation of the SCO member countries in the field of tourism for 2017-2018 and a memorandum of understanding between the SCO Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross were also signed.
Nazarbayev, summarizing the results of the event, the participants discussed the current state of affairs, further steps to promote comprehensive cooperation, as well as current international issues related to the activities of the SCO
“I am sure that the exchange of views, the initiatives and proposals put forward will find their application, practically taking into account the interests of all our states. Such an approach will strengthen relations within the SCO framework and contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the organization's activities," Nazarbayev noted.
During the summit, the SCO chairmanship was transferred from Kazakhstan to China. China will host the next meeting of the heads of the SCO member states in the summer of 2018.
The SCO, established in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, conducts multilateral cooperation between the member states on national security, military, economy and culture.
The SCO members now are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and newly accepted India and Pakistan.
In addition to the eight member states, the SCO has four observer nations – Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan and Belarus – and six dialogue partners, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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