SCO Secretary General voiced date of Belarus’ possible accession
A decision on granting Belarus the status of a member of the organisation will be made at the SCO summit in Astana on July 3rd-4th – as stated by SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming, RIA Novosti reports
According to Mr. Ming, it is expected that a decision will be made on Belarus’ admission to the SCO and granting it the status of a member of the organisation at the Astana summit. After then, the republic will have the right to participate as a full member in meetings and mechanisms within the organisation.
In accordance with the decision taken by the SCO Council of Heads of State at the 2022 summit in Samarkand, the organisation reached an agreement with Belarus on all legal, financial and organisational conditions for joining the SCO – as stipulated in the relevant memorandum of commitment signed in New Delhi on July 4th, 2023.
“In February 2024, Belarus fulfilled all its obligations under the above-mentioned memorandum. In accordance with the SCO regulation on the procedure for admitting new members, the secretariat is working with the SCO member states to prepare appropriate decisions to be adopted by the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers and the SCO Council of Heads of State,” Mr. Ming added.
The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation – founded in 2001 – includes India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia are observer countries, and partner countries are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, UAE, Turkiye, and Sri Lanka.
In July 2023, at the SCO summit in New Delhi, Iran became a full member of the organisation. Belarus then signed a memorandum of obligations in order to obtain the status of a member state.
