The schedule of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit will
address traditional issues, including problems of common security in
SCO space and on neighbouring organizations, in particular the problem
of Afghanistan, which is topical for all SCO members, Trend reports,
citing the Secretary General of the SCO, Muratbek Imanaliyev.
The summit will hold talks on Kyrgyzstan. The members will also
discuss the rules for accepting new members to the SCO.
Imanaliyev recalled that observer status was introduced in 2004.
Mongolia, Pakistan, Iran and India were observers. A contact group
'SCO-Afghanistan, Belarus and Sri Lanka' was created and received the
status of dialogue partners.
Imanaliyev noted the great contribution of Uzbekistan as
Chairman-in-Office, especially Islam Karimov’s efforts. The initiative
of Uzbekistan has strengthened the role of the organization as an
authoritative international institution, for example, by signing the
agreement on April 5th 2010 on cooperation between the SCO and the UN.
