MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS/. A number of countries are seeking to partner with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) but their bids haven’t been considered yet as the organization is going through a revamping process, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for SCO Affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"We have received plenty of applications to become dialogue partners and observers. We aren’t currently considering them due to the revamping process that is underway. We will figure out how to address these issues as we go along. There are a lot of ideas on how to reshape the entire pattern of interaction with external parties," he noted.

"As for official bids, there is currently only one country seeking membership: Afghanistan," the Russian presidential envoy pointed out. According to the diplomat, Afghanistan applied for membership back in 2015. "Afghanistan has so far remained outside the SCO cooperation framework for objective reasons. The current government has not been recognized yet so although there is contact with Kabul on various issues, it's informal," Khakimov explained.

It was announced at an SCO summit on Tuesday that Iran had become the ninth member of the organization founded in 2001. In addition, Belarus signed a memorandum of commitment, which launched the full membership process for the country.