DUSHANBE, April 28, 2016, Asia-Plus – The 11th session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) forum kicked off at the National Library of Tajikistan in Dushanbe today.
Among the participants are delegates and experts from SCO bodies, members, observers and dialogue partners as well as representatives from international organizations.
The SCO forum grouping representatives of expert and research circles is a non-government expert mechanism of the Organization.
The forum provides platform for discussions and exchange of views that could help the SCO improve its work.
The forum will last two days, covering topics including economic cooperation, regional security cooperation and the further development of SCO.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization currently has six full members — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are six observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Sri Lanka and Turkey.
The Organization’s six full members account for 60% of the land mass of Eurasia and its population is a quarter of the world”s population. With observer states included, its affiliates account for about half of the world”s population.
