SCO foreign ministers to discuss preparation for Tashkent summit

Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) member countries will discuss on May 23-24 the preparation for the meeting of the heads of the SCO member states, Anvar Nasirov, Uzbek deputy foreign minister, told reporters at the briefing.

The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is the final stage of preparation for the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State, said Nasirov.

He noted that the ministers have to approve the draft agenda of the upcoming summit, as well as documents that are to be submitted for the signing by the heads of states.

The Tashkent Declaration dedicated to the SCO's 15th anniversary, approaches of the states to the prospects of its development, as well as the SCO's position on the current international and regional situation, solving relevant security issues are on the meeting's agenda.

Meanwhile, foreign ministers of the SCO member states will also consider the progress in admission procedure of India and Pakistan to the organization.

Moreover, the meeting will discuss the issues of strengthening stability and security in Central Asia, the expansion of SCO's contacts with other international organizations and states, as well as the wide attraction of the SCO observer states and the SCO dialogue partners to the practical cooperation within the organization.

Foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov and the Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO (RATS SCO) Eugene Sysoev have already officially confirmed their participation in the meeting.

The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

A procedure was launched at the SCO summit in Ufa in July 2015 for admission of India and Pakistan to the organization.

Uzbekistan overtook from Russia the SCO chairmanship at the organization's summit in Ufa.