Issues of granting special status to several countries will be considered at the SCO summit in Samarkand – Norov

At the summit of the leaders of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which will be held in Samarkand in September of the current year, the status of a number of countries in the SCO will be clarified.  The (Acting) minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov reported this.

According to Norov, the memorandums on granting the SCO dialogue partner status to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are ready to be signed.

In addition, at the Samarkand summit, it is planned to adopt a decision to start granting dialogue partner status to Bahrain and the Maldives.

"It is also necessary to develop consolidated approaches to the issue of granting observer status to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, and Nepal at the SCO," - said Norov.

It should be recalled that at the summit in Samarkand, a decision is expected to make the Islamic Republic of Iran a member of the SCO.  At the same time, the application of Belarus to join the organization will be considered.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent regional international association established on 15 June 2001, in Shanghai. Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are members of SCO.  This year, the chairmanship of the organization was transferred to Uzbekistan.