DUSHANBE, June 24, 2016, Asia-Plus — Russian President Vladimir Putin has held out the possibility that India and Pakistan could join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017.
Radio Liberty
reports that speaking at the SCO summit in Tashkent on June 24, Putin said New Delhi and Islamabad “must meet all the obligations to receive the status of member states.”
The Russian president reportedly said he hopes the two countries will move toward full membership by the SCO”s next summit in Kazakhstan in June 2017.
Vladimir Putin also said there are no longer obstacles that would prevent Iran from joining the group.
According to
Reuters
, Russian president said on Friday that there are no obstacles left for Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“We believe that after Iran”s nuclear problem was solved and United Nations sanctions lifted, there have been no obstacles left (for Iran”s membership in the SCO),” Putin said in a speech at an SCO summit in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.
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 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, 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.
