Tashkent, Uzbekistan, May 13
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held on May 23-24 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Russian media reported.
Foreign ministers will discuss issues of preparation for the SCO summit, which is to be held on June 23-24 in Tashkent.
The ministers will also discuss the draft documents and decisions, which are to be submitted to the SCO Council of Heads of Government. In particular, discussions will cover the Tashkent Declaration dedicated to the SCO's 15th anniversary, the action plan for 2016-2020 to implement the SCO development strategy until 2025, as well as a number of projects aimed at further promotion of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism, organized crime, drug trafficking.
In accordance with the decision on the SCO's expansion, foreign ministers of the SCO member states will also consider the progress in admission procedure of India and Pakistan to the organization.
The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.
A procedure was launched at the SCO summit in Ufa in July 2015 for admission of India and Pakistan to the organization.
Uzbekistan overtook from Russia the SCO chairmanship at the organization's summit in Ufa.