17th meeting of Heads of SCO Member States begins

The regular 17^th meeting of the Heads of SCO Member States under the chairmanship of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev started.

In his welcoming speech, the head of Kazakhstan noted that «the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has received international recognition and has become an effective platform, and today’s meeting is held for the last time in six-sided format.»

«Today we agreed to sign a decision on the completion of the procedure for admission and granting the status of a SCO member state to the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Admission of new members for us is a new impulse in the development of the organization, and it will promote growth and international prestige," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

Recall, the 17^th meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is held in Astana on June 8–9, where the heads of delegations exchange views on the international and regional situation, security issues and development of cooperation within the SCO in political, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, discuss the process of India and Pakistan’s accession to SCO.

It is known that a draft statement of the heads of state on joint counteraction to international terrorism is being prepared. One of the important issues on the agenda of the summit is the completion of the process of accession of India and Pakistan to SCO as member states. As a result, the SCO space will occupy 60 percent of the area of ​​Eurasia, and the population will be up to half of the world’s population.

The heads of state are expected to sign the Astana Declaration, adopt the SCO Convention on Countering Extremism. In total, 11 documents are being prepared for signing.

It is planned that the talks will be held in both a narrow and an extended format. It is also expected that the heads of state will assess the situation in the SCO, determine the tasks and prospects for the development of the organization.

During the summit, the SCO chairmanship will be handed over from Kazakhstan to China. This country will host the next meeting of the heads of the SCO member states in the summer of 2018.

Note of 24.kg news agency. The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization, which includes six states — Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.