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SCO countries making friends not against anyone but in name of high ideals — Kremlin

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established by six states in June 2001

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. /TASS/. Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) are making friends not against anyone by in the name of high ideals and common interests, Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel on Sunday.

When asked by the host whether the SCO could be seen as a counter-balance to the Group of Seven, as the West says. "No, it is not about being friend against anyone. It is about being friends in the name of higher ideals and in the interests of the nations united in the SCO," he said.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established by six states, namely China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in June 2001. India and Pakistan was granted full-fledged membership in 2017. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia are observer countries, and Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka enjoy the partner status.

The organization’s summit in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand on September 15-16 launched the procedure of admitting Belarus as a full-fledged member. Apart from that, Iran signed a memorandum on liabilities for joining the organization. Egypt and Qatar were granted a dialogue partner status, and Bahrain, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar, and Saudi Arabia began the procedure for obtaining this status.

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