Belarus gains SCO dialogue partner status

MINSK, 28 April (BelTA) – The memorandum on providing the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) dialogue partner status to Belarus was signed in Minsk on 28 April, BelTA has learnt.

The document has been signed by Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov and Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Muratbek Imanaliev.

The decision to provide the SCO dialogue partner status to Belarus was adopted at the SCO session in Yekaterinburg on 16 June 2009. This status allows the countries concerned to take part in some SCO activities, participate in working sessions of the organization.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a sub-regional international organization of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Pakistan and Iran are current observers of the organization. The territory of its member-states makes up 61% of Eurasia’s total territory, its total demographic potential — a quarter of the planet’s population, while the economic potential includes the world’s second most powerful economy — China.