Belarus gets SCO full membership

KABUL (Pajhwok): Belarus becomes the tenth full-fledged member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a media report said on Thursday.

Ankasam reported the signing ceremony was held at the Independence Palace in Astana, where meetings of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member states are held.

China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have a similar status in the organisation.

Belarus has been participating in the SCO as a dialogue partner since 2010 and as an observer since 2015. Following the Council of Heads of State held in Samarkand on 16 September 2022, a decision to initiate the membership procedure was signed. As part of this process, Belarus participated in more than 40 agreements.

The event was attended by the heads of state and government of Kazakhstan, India, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, UAE, Turkey and Turkmenistan, as well as the SCO Secretary General and the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure.

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