Zhang Ming: Belarus' path towards SCO joining is unprecedented
The Belarusian path towards joining the SCO can be called unprecedented – as stated by Zhang Ming, the Secretary General of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, following his today’s meeting with the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko
Zhang Ming noted that it was a great honour for him to meet with the President of Belarus. “We actively exchanged views – doing that sincerely. The procedure of Belarus' accession to the SCO was an important topic of our conversation,” he said.
The SCO Secretary General added that it was his second meeting with the Belarusian leader since September 2022, “During these two meetings, I have got an impression that Belarus pays great attention to joining the SCO, to completing this procedure. Belarusian efforts in this direction have also received great attention from the SCO member states.”
Zhang Ming recalled that Belarus officially applied to join the SCO in June 2022 and, two and a half months later (during the Samarkand summit), it was decided to start the procedure for the country’s accession. “That was unprecedented! I mean that was unprecedented regarding the speed of decision-making! It reflects the mutual trust between the member states at a high level, while showing that all the SCO member states greatly appreciate that the Belarusian side shares the values and principles of the organisation and has played a very important role as an observer for many years,” he said.
The SCO Secretary General added that, after the summit in Samarkand, the Belarusian side appealed to the organisation with a request to speed up the accession procedure, “Honoured President Aleksandr Lukashenko called this work an ambitious goal. In fact, over the past few months, the Belarusian side – jointly with all SCO member states and the SCO Secretariat – has done a great job and made huge efforts to co-ordinate the promotion of this procedure.”
Under India’s chairmanship, all SCO member states have discussed and considered that topic, and – as noted by Zhang Ming – the process is still underway. “The President expressed hope that the Secretariat will continue to play an active role in this work to co-ordinate the position of all member states. I think we can combine our efforts with all SCO members and the Belarusian side to advance this goal to its final outcome. I would like to note that the contribution that the Belarusian side has been making to the organisation for many years is recognised and appreciated by all its member states,” he stressed.
