India Will Be Made a Full Member of the SCO this June

A memorandum on India’s joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is expected to be signed at a SCO summit in Tashkent, Bakhtiyer Khakimov, Russian president’s special envoy for SCO affairs and the Russian foreign ministry’s ambassador at large, said on Feb 25, Tass reported Friday. India’s full membership was decided at the previous SCO Summit at Ufa last year. Another South Asian nation, Pakistan, is awaiting the full membership this June. The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will take place in Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent on June 23-24, 2016.

Bakhtier Khakimov told reporters that Iran’s acceptance as a full member of the SCO is now under consideration. “We take it as a premise and work on it,” he added, Trend News reported. Khakimov said that in principle, all SCO member states support Iran’s accession to the organization. There are no objections to Iran’s candidacy. But there are certain nuances in the approaches to the process of accession itself, he added.

India’s inclusion, and the future inclusion of Iran, in the SCO as full member will enhance security and developmental activities in the region encompassing Eurasia, South Asia and part of Middle East. India’s inclusion was also  necessary since the SCO is led by two major BRICS nations, China and Russia. India will be the third BRICS nation in the group.