Lukashenko: we set an ambitious goal – to complete our SCO membership path before Delhi summit
Belarus has set itself an ambitious goal of completing its SCO membership path before the New Delhi summit, which is expected to take place this June – as stated by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, during a meeting with Secretary General of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) Zhang Ming
The Belarusian Head of State warmly welcomed Zhang Ming and, in his person, conveyed kind words of gratitude to the entire SCO Secretariat for the work done, “And above all, for the work done with regard to Belarus, which at the last summit [in Samarkand in September 2022] was actually accepted into the family of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation.”
Addressing the SCO Secretary General, the President outlined the goal of our country, “In order to legally become a full SCO member, certain legal procedures must be carried out in Belarus. We must join the decisions that were taken by the SCO earlier. We have set ourselves an ambitious goal – to go the way to SCO membership before the summit in Delhi. This is a fast pace, a serious pace, but if you support us, it will be a good example for others.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that, as an observer, our country was seriously preparing to join the organisation, “Therefore, we will definitely be able to meet the deadlines until June, before we meet again in Delhi. You know our goals, our capabilities are also known to the SCO members."
The Belarusian leader also asked the SCO Secretary General if there are any concerns or questions from the SCO towards Belarus in the process of legal accession.
Zhang Ming, in turn, noted that it is a great honour and great joy for him to visit our country, “This is my first visit to Belarus. Thank you for the warm welcome, for the hospitality that you extended to me and the members of our delegation. I had good impressions of our meeting in Samarkand, we had a very constructive dialogue. Then we also discussed the issues of Belarus’ accession to the SCO, this was the key topic of our talks.”
Belarus views the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation as an international platform for determining particular mechanisms for developing interaction in the field of countering the threats of terrorism, extremism, organised crime and drug trafficking. Moreover, our country is in favour of strengthening the SCO economic dimension as the most important factor of stability in the Eurasian region.
Belarus has been participating in the SCO since 2010 as a dialogue partner, since 2015 – as an observer, taking an active part in all major dimensions of the SCO activities: political and diplomatic, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian, as well as in military co-operation, including tactical exercises.
In 2022, the SCO states accounted for 69.9 percent of the total trade turnover of the Republic of Belarus.
The total number of SCO countries is 21 states. The SCO currently comprises eight member states: India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Afghanistan, Belarus (since 2015), Iran and Mongolia have the status of an observer state in the organisation. The SCO dialogue partners include nine countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Sri Lanka.
Following the SCO Heads of State Council meeting in Dushanbe in September 2021, the procedure for Iran’s joining the organisation as a full member has been launched. On September 16th, 2022, at the Samarkand summit of the SCO Heads of State, a similar procedure was launched with respect to Belarus, and the procedure for accession as a dialogue partner state with respect to Bahrain, Maldives, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Myanmar was also launched. There are applications from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal for observer status.
