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India and Pakistan join SCO

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have signed the Astana Declaration and confirmed membership of India and Pakistan in the organization

A meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State Council Mikhail Metzel/TASS

A meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State Council

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

ASTANA, June 9. /TASS/. Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization have signed the Astana Declaration, the Convention on Combating Extremism and a statement on fight against terrorism, and also confirmed membership of India and Pakistan in the group.

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The leaders also approved decisions on the contributions of India and Pakistan due to their new status in the organization. The sides adopted reports of the SCO Secretary-General and a regional anti-terror body of the group on the activity in 2016.

During the meeting, a plan on joint steps on implementing the program for cooperation between the SCO countries in tourism in 2017-2018 and a memorandum on mutual understanding between the SCO Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was signed.

The accession process of India and Pakistan was launched at the SCO summit in Russia’s Ufa in 2015.

The Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was singed in China’s Shanghai in June 2001 by six founding states - Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia currently enjoy observer status while Sri Lanka, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

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