UFA, July 10. /TASS/. The accession of nuclear powers of India and Pakistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will not only change the political map, but may also influence the balance of power on the world arena, Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov said on Friday.
"How will the accession process of these two states [India and Pakistan] happen taking into consideration that these are not ordinary states but they possess nuclear weapons? If we look through this lens, then tomorrow their accession to the SCO will not simply change the political map, but I think may change the balance of power," Karimov said at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Russia’s Ufa.
The Uzbek leader proposed to the Russian leader to discuss the issues linked to the accession of new members to the SCO during the upcoming presidency of Uzbekistan in the organization.
The Russian president joked saying that "it will be like: Uzbekistan President Karimov has brought India and Pakistan to the SCO and created a new political world reality," adding: "Let’s talk about that."
At the SCO summit on Friday, the leaders are expected to agree on the accession procedure for India and Pakistan what will give the organization a non-official and alternative status of an association of the "big eight" countries. The membership will be finalized in 2016.
Besides, the six-nation bloc has received applications for observer or dialogue partner status from several countries, such as Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Syria, Ukraine, Maldives, Cambodia and Egypt.