Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Armenia, and Nepal have been admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on a partner status, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, Sputnik News reports.
“Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, and Nepal have joined the SCO family as partners in dialogue,” Putin said during his opening speech at the extended meeting of SCO’s Heads of Governments Council in the Russian city of Ufa.
Earlier, the SCO had three dialogue partners — Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
The SCO summit launched the procedures to accept new members, India and Pakistan, the president added. India and Pakistan, currently holding observer status in the organization, applied to join the SCO as full members in September 2014.
The SCO is a political, economic and military alliance founded in 2001 by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.