Memorandums on India and Pakistan will be signed at SCO summit in June - Russian Security Council secretary

TASHKENT, April 14. /TASS/. Memorandums on obligations of India and Pakistan to become member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be signed at the SCO summit in Tashkent in June, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Thursday. "We consider today’s event from the point of view of strengthening international and regional security, as well as in the context of preparing for the session of the Council of SCO member countries’ head of states on June 23-24," Patrushev told a meeting of SCO member countries’ security council secretaries. "We assign great importance to the upcoming signing of the Tashkent declaration, as well as memorandums on obligations of India and Pakistan to receive the status of member countries," he added. Patrushev expressed "complete support to Uzbekistan’s chairmanship in the sense of urgency of implementing the decisions of the Ufa summit in the part that concerns admitting India and Pakistan (to SCO)." The Russian Security Council secretary also noted that the current situation in international and regional affairs requires "decisive and coordinated actions" from SCO member countries. "It is necessary to consider the unpredictable nature of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific, unstable situation in Afghanistan, in the Middle East and North Africa," Patrushev concluded. SCO The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent regional international association, the establishment of which was announced on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai. The organization brings together Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. During the SCO summit in Ufa on July 9 and July 10 the start of the admission procedure for India and Pakistan was announced. The leaders of the SCO member-countries also decided to grant Belarus observer status, while Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal became dialogue partners. SCO priority spheres include joint fight against terrorism and extremism, cooperation in the spheres of education, energy, transport, and telecommunications. The total population of SCO countries is almost 1.6 billion people, and the total GDP of the member countries is $11.6 trillion. Read more