SCO considering Russia’s initiative on regions heads' forum - envoy

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. The decision on establishing the Forum of the heads of regions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member-countries has not been made yet, work to study the project is in progress, Russian Presidential Envoy for SCO Affairs, Ambassador-at-Large, Bakhtier Khakimov, told TASS. "The decision has not been made yet," he said, adding that the idea was backed by the leaders of all the SCO member-countries. "Our partners are studying the groundwork provided by the Russian initiator of the project - the Chelyabinsk region," the diplomat noted. Khakimov did not rule out that a formal decision on launching the forum could be made at a meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the SCO member-countries next year. "During this period of time, we need to draft some basic documents and coordination procedure," he added. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent regional association founded in Shanghai, China, in June 2001 by six nations, namely, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its priority tasks include joint counteraction to terrorism and extremism, cooperation in education as well as in the energy, oil and gas, transport, communications and other spheres. On June 9, 2017, it was decided to grant full-fledged membership to India and Pakistan. Four observer countries (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia) and six dialogue partners (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka) also take part in the work of the association. Read more