Azerbaijan becomes SCO dialogue partner

Beijing, March 14, AZERTAC Azerbaijan and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have signed a Memorandum on granting the SCO partner dialogue status to Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. As earlier reported, within his visit to China Foreign Minister Elmar Mammdyarov has meet with leaders of the SCO and China. Azerbaijan officially joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner, after signing a corresponding memorandum. Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov inked the memorandum during a ceremony in Beijing. “Azerbaijan would like to go further within the Organization”, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister underlined. Azerbaijan applied for observer status in 2012. The decision to grant Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Nepal the dialogue partner status was made at the Ufa summit in July. The SCO is a political, economic and military alliance founded in 2001 by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Belarus, Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan hold observer status in the organization. Thus, Azerbaijan, Shri-Lanka, Cambodia, Nepal and Armenia have the SCO dialogue partner status.