Belarus expects accession to SCO to enable it to join 'multiple projects' - ambassador to China

MINSK. July 25 (Interfax) - Belarus expects that its accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) would enable it to join "multiple projects," Belarusian Ambassador to China Yury Senko said.

"This is a large market, these are perfect opportunities for participating in multiple projects that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is pursuing now. This is absolutely normal that we would fully engage in all processes taking place in the SCO," Senko said on the ONT television channel on Sunday.

"This initiative will be endorsed in Uzbekistan in September. This would mark the start of all procedures of the full-scale accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Senko said.

In this light, Belarus and China are expected to conduct top-level negotiations in September, he said.

'We are looking forward to this decision. Everything indicates that such negotiations should take place if nothing prevents this. We hope the pandemic won't be a restriction for this," he said.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming said in mid-July that Belarus had filed an application to become a full member of the SCO. The member states are expected to start a procedure to admit Belarus to the organization at a summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand in September.

The SCO was set up in 2001. Its members are China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia hold observer status, and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners in the organization.