Process of India, Pakistan’s accession to SCO underway - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The process of the accession of India and Pakistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is not over yet, but Moscow is confident that these countries' full-scale involvement in the work of the organization will boost its potential, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told TASS on Friday. "Although the process of the SCO enlargement has begun, this is not a single-step event," he said. "The candidate countries are yet to reaffirm their readiness to strictly comply with all obligations under international law within the organization. This, in turn, implies the candidates’ accession to the multilateral treaties and agreements between the SCO member-countries, and there are more than 30 such treaties." According to Morgulov, "the experience of cooperation with India and Pakistan as observers convincingly demonstrated that their full-scale involvement in the SCO activities will further strengthen the organization’s potential and will enhance its role in the regional and international affairs." He noted that the process of coordinating the draft memorandums on India and Pakistan’s commitments with a view to obtaining the status of SCO member-states was still underway. The negotiations with the applicants on their accession to the organization will start only after the memorandums are signed, Morgulov said. Read more