Baku, Azerbaijan, March 14
Trend:
Azerbaijan has officially received the status of a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry March 14.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov signed a memorandum for granting the SCO dialogue partner status to Azerbaijan in Beijing with Secretary General of the SCO Rashid Alimov.
"Azerbaijan is interested in cooperation with the SCO, in particular in such areas as the fight against terrorism and extremism, strengthening peace and security, transportation, energy sector, as well as on other issues of mutual interest," said Mammadyarov at the signing ceremony.
The memorandum provides for cooperation in the above mentioned areas, as well as in the fight against illegal drug production and drug trafficking, cyber crimes, in the areas of ICT, agriculture, trade, investment and others.
The decision to grant the SCO dialogue partner status to Azerbaijan was adopted at the organization's summit in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, in July 2015.
The SCO includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Belarus, Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have the observer status at the SCO.
A procedure was launched at the SCO 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.
The 2016 SCO summit will be held June 23-24 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.