BEIJING, March 6. /TASS/. There has been a rise in the number of applications to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russian presidential envoy for the SCO affairs and ambassador at large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Bakhtiyer Khakimov, said on Monday.
"Naturally, when something good is generated through development, this good attracts attention," he said, summing up his visit to Beijing. "It is no coincidence that there have been increasingly more applications for accession to the SCO in one form or another," he added. According to Khakimov, moves to further consolidate the eight core members of the organization have been key, and they will soon be joined by Iran and Belarus.
Work is in the final stages to formalize the dialogue partnership with Bahrain, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates, the Russian diplomat said.
"The willingness of countries to join the work of the SCO means that new opportunities that need to be implemented are emerging," Khakimov underscored. He referred to the nations that would soon be integrated and said there were "other applications in the portfolio," too.
According to Khakimov, work initiated by Russia is currently underway to improve the SCO’s activities in line with the decision the leaders of the member countries made at last September’s summit in Samarkand. This concerns reformatting existing mechanisms rather than radically transforming the SCO, the diplomat clarified.
The envoy said that the recent practice of holding summit or high-level events had not proved sufficient enough to achieve the goals being set. "Hence, there is a common understanding of the need to work on methods to more effectively involve external participants in joint practical activities," Khakimov concluded.
Established in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization currently comprises Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Four other countries — Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia — hold observer status, while several other nations — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey — are dialogue partners.