Iran, Belarus may become full-time members of SCO

The observer countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Iran and Belarus could soon become full-time members of the charter as the decision is under consideration as of now, an official said on Thursday.
Minister of Defense of Belarus, Major General Viktor Khrenin and Iranian Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiani participated in the meeting .The SCO is being hosted by India this year, and Goa is prepared to welcome all of the SCO member states’ foreign ministers to the location where decisions regarding new SCO members will be made.
“The most important work before the SCO Foreign Ministers will be to assess the status of decisions that will be approved at the SCO Summit in New Delhi in July. The meeting will also give an opportunity to discuss the state of multilateral cooperation in SCO, regional and global issues of interest, reform and modernization of the Organization and the progress of admitting Iran and Belarus to the SCO as new Member States,” MEA Secretary Dammu Ravi .
He further added that India’s efforts to further deepening of the bonds of friendship and cooperation in SCO were evident through various socio-cultural events that were hostedCurrently, SCO has Russia, India, China, Pakistan and four Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its members. If consideration is accepted by the SCO member on Iran and Belarus to take as new members of SCO, it will have 10 members in the SCO by next year.
The SCO has mainly focused its fight against regional security issues, regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. To date, the SCO’s priorities have also included regional development.Several socio-cultural events organized by India were organized for the first time in the framework of the SCO.
“Terrorism is an important element in this summit… Security and terrorism is an emotional issue and it is a normal process in the discussion but it is not the specific agenda. There are many other agendas in the summit,” SCO council sources.