Russia welcomes Pakistan's decision to join Shanghai Cooperation Organization - Duma speaker
MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - Russia supports Pakistan's decision to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin said.
"We support Pakistan's soonest possible accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a full member, and expect that the participants in the upcoming SCO summit to be held in Tashkent will make the relevant decisions," Naryshkin said, while receiving Pakistani National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in Moscow on Wednesday.
Moscow welcomes the Pakistani parliament's decision to join the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Parliamentary Assembly's work as an observer, Naryshkin said. "And we will be glad to see you and your colleagues already in this capacity, in the observer capacity, at the next session of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, which should take place in St. Petersburg in November," Naryshkin said.
The relationship with Pakistan is among Russia's foreign political priorities, and is of value in and of itself, Naryshkin said.
"The relationship and cooperation with Pakistan occupies an important place in the system of Russia's foreign political priorities. The relationship with Islamabad is of value in itself, and is not subject to any opportunistic political considerations," he said.
Moscow is grateful to Pakistan for supporting Russia's position, and for fighting international terrorism, Naryshkin said. "We know well that Pakistan is among the countries that have suffered the worst from terrorism, and this, yet again, underscores the need to put together a truly efficient, workable, and broad international coalition to oppose this evil," he added.
