Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.13
Trend:
The decision on expanding the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) can be adopted at a summit in Ufa, Bakhtier Khakimov, Russian president's special representative at the SCO said.
The next SCO summit will be held in Ufa on July 8-10, 2015.
Khakimov said that if India and Pakistan join the SCO, it will be beneficial not only for the organization, but also for these countries, TASS reported.
"Expansion is one of the issues which we are working on," the president's representative said.
SCO is open to all interested countries that are ready to work with member states on increasing the efficiency of this cooperation, according to Khakimov.
He said the expansion issue has long been on the agenda with a working group currently operating in Beijing.
He added that the SCO is open to working with many organizations.
"Currently, we have applications for full membership of the SCO from Pakistan, Iran and India," Khakimov said.
Moreover, a number of countries are requesting observer status: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bangladesh and Nepal.
"Recently, we received an application from Syria," Khakimov noted.
Currently, SCO member states are: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Additionally, there are five observer states: Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan, as well as dialogue partners and guests.
Translated by LZ
Edited by CN