BEIJING, March 6. /TASS/. Russia and other SCO member states support Minsk’s political decision to achieve an accelerated admission to the organization, Russian Ambassador at Large, Special Presidential Envoy for SCO affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov told Russian reporters Monday, adding that the main issue here is to make sure that such procedure complies with national legislations.
According to the envoy, the SCO member states are certain that Iran’s membership in the organization will be formalized during the upcoming summit.
"In addition, the process of admission of Belarus is underway. As you know, Minsk made a political decision to achieve accelerated passage of this process. Russia, just like other states, supports Minsk in this decision.
The SCO is an international organization, established in 2001. Currently, its members are: Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Four more states - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia - act as observers. In addition, nine more countries have dialogue partner status: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
During the September 15-16 SCO summit in Samarkand; the leaders signed a memorandum on Iran’s obligations for joining the SCO. The summit also started the process of clearance of Belarus’ membership in the organization. In addition, a decision was made during the summit in Samarkand to provide dialogue partner status to Bahrain, Kuwait, the Maldives, Myanmar and the UAE.