SCO secretary general calls results of Kazakhstan's SCO presidency historic
ASTANA. June 9 (Interfax) - The admission of India and Pakistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) ushers in a new era in its history, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov said.
"The decision of the Astana summit of the SCO marks a new epoch in this organization's history. There is no doubt that thanks to the unity of its joint development goals, the SCO, already acting in an eight-member format, will continue to make its sizeable contribution to efforts to tackle major tasks for the benefit of the peace, stability and prosperity of the people across the vast Eurasian space," Alimov said at the expanded session of the SCO Council of Heads of States in Astana on Friday.
The SCO has successfully stood the test of time, he said.
"Its founding states have raised the SCO into a high orbit of cooperation. Today the organization acts as a positive factor of regional and global policy with an efficient mechanism of interaction in the spheres of politics, security, trade, economics, culture and humanitarian affairs," he said.
"The presidency of the Republic of Kazakhstan [in the SCO] has become historic both from the point of view of its results and from the point of view of the conclusion of the organization's work in the six-party format," Alimov said.