India’s, Pakistan’s integration into SCO continues - envoy

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. The process of incorporating India and Pakistan into the work of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is underway, some technical issues need to be tackled, Russian Presidential Envoy for SCO Affairs, Ambassador-at-Large, Bakhtier Khakimov, told TASS. "The process of integrating [India and Pakistan into the SCO’s work] has been going on steadily and is on the ascent," he said. The diplomat recalled that New Delhi and Islamabad had joined all the SCO basic documents when the process of their accession to the organization was in progress. "The package of documents they had to join consisted of approximately 30 various agreements beginning with the charter," he explained. Khakimov noted though that India and Pakistan should also join the documents that are temporarily used by the SCO. "That’s why the process will be delayed for some time, but, on the other hand, no one prevents India and Pakistan from joining practical work," he stressed. The diplomat added that some technical issues, such as the use of English in the organization’s work, have not been resolved yet. "Russian and Chinese are the two official languages, and there is no translation service from English yet in the SCO Secretariat. Now there is a need to tackle this issue," he said. The procedure for India’s and Pakistan’s accession to the SCO was completed at the organization’s summit in Astana in June. Read more