BEIJING, November 1. /TASS/. Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries will continue developing political, security, economic and trade cooperation, according to a joint statement that was adopted on Tuesday following the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of SCO Member States.
"The heads of delegations stressed that member states will continue to make efforts to achieve the goals and comply with the principles of the SCO Charter, develop cooperation in the fields of politics and security, infrastructure, trade, economy, finance and investment, cultural and humanitarian ties in order to build a peaceful, safe, prosperous and environmentally friendly planet Earth, to achieve the harmonious coexistence of man and nature," the statement said.
The meeting, which was chaired by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, was held by video link.
The SCO is an international organization founded in 2001. Currently, the organization includes Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Four other countries - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia - have an observer status. The following nine countries are dialogue partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
At the SCO summit in Samarkand that was held on September 15-16, leaders signed a memorandum on the obligations of Iran with respect to its accession to the SCO. Iran will complete the accession procedure when it meets those obligations. The same summit began the process of accepting Belarus as a member.
The summit also decided to start the procedure for granting dialogue partner status to Bahrain, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates.