MOSCOW, June 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a serious multi-dimensional regional group, whose objectives seem attractive for many countries in the region.

"The SCO is an international organization, which was came into existence in a natural way in mid 1990s, due to the start of work to settle border issues of Russia, China and several former Soviet republics - Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan. After this work was successfully completed and produced good practical results, we all came to a conclusion that this format should not just be preserved, it should receive a new status, the status of an organization tasked with developing relations in various spheres," Putin said in an interview to the Mir channel, a fragment of which was posted on YouTube on Thursday.

"Later, in the course of its work, it turned out that the tasks it sets, the issues that it solves are attractive for other regional states as well, that’s why many countries - if I’m not mistaken, it now has 18 full-fledged members and observer states - joined its work in different statuses. Therefore, the SCO has become a serious and multi-dimensional regional organization," the Russian president continued.

The agenda of the SCO summit, to take place in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on June 13-14, includes about two dozens of issues, including setting up the Bank of SCO and joint measures to counter modern challenges and threats.

The SCO member countries are Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia have the observer states. Six countries are SCO dialogue partners - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka.