Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
have agreed that it would be expedient to suspend the
organization's expansion, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said on
Monday ahead of the upcoming SCO summit in Bishkek on Aug. 16.
"The SCO Charter allows new admissions, but the organization has
yet to work out criteria and algorithm of such procedure,"
Alexander Losyukov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as
saying.
At the same time, he stressed that this does not mean the SCO
will turn into a "closed club." According to Losyukov, there is
"the readiness to expand mutually advantageous cooperation with the
observe states in various areas."
"We are working on a mechanism for SCO dialogue cooperation with
all interested countries and multilateral structures," he
added.
"The SCO is committed to an open and equal dialogue, the
development of partnership with other associations and countries.
The range of issues for possible cooperation is quite broad:
security, various economic projects, and humanitarian cooperation,"
he said.
Founded in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO was aimed at enhancing
security, trade, cultural, military and justice cooperation among
member countries. It groups Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, China and Russia. Mongolia, Pakistan, India and Iran
are observer countries at SCO meetings.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2007)
