China warmly welcomes Pakistan’s desire to be full member in SCO

BEIJING, Aug 27 (APP): China Tuesday said it warmly welcomes Pakistan’s desire to become full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). “China warmly welcomes this and we will work with other countries to actively promote such request”, the Vice-Foreign Minster Cheng Guoping said while replying to a question at a press conference here.

The press conference was also addressed by Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao and Deputy Governor Yi  Gang of People’s Bank of China to brief the media on President Xi  Jinping’s State visits from Sept 3 to 13 to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and his attendance at the G20 St. Petersburg Summit and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Bishkek Summit. Minister Cheng said China will continue holding discussion on the formal documents accepting new members.

He said because they have to go through some procedures therefore, they are still working on this document.

To become a full member state of the SCO is required consensus  of all the existing members states, he said adding therefore, in terms  of expanding the membership of the SCO it will still take sometime. The 13th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is slated for September 13 in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

As Chinese President,  Xi Jingpin will for the first time attend the summit at the invitation of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev. He will also hold talks with various leaders on the sidelines of the meeting.

Founded in June 2001, the SCO’s member states consist of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Afghanistan have observer status in the organization.

The G20, established in September 1999, brings together 20 major economies of the world, including 19 countries and the European Union.