Kyrgyz parliament ratifies memorandum on accession of India, Pakistan to SCO

The Kyrgyz parliament Wednesday adopted a draft law on the ratification of the memorandum on the obligations of India and Pakistan to obtain membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) signed June 24 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev, who presented the draft law, said that the admission of these countries into the SCO would expand the organization geographically, the Kyrgyz parliament press service reported.

Abdyldaev said that Russia has already completed the internal approval procedures and the other countries still need to complete them.

"After other SCO member states have ratified the memorandum, India and Pakistan will be accepted as full members of the organization at the upcoming SCO Summit in Astana (Kazakhstan)," the Kyrgyz minister said.

India and Pakistan's SCO accession procedures were started in July 2015.

The SCO groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observer states. Endi