SCO grants dialogue partner status to Egypt, Qatar

Tashkent, Sep 16: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Wednesday (September 14) granted SCO dialogue partner status to Egypt and Qatar at a ceremony hosted in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The two countries were given the status as part of preparations for the meeting of the SCO heads of state council. The meeting of the SCO heads of state council is being held today at Registan Square, Samarkand which is being attended by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, China's President Xi Jinging among others.

"The memorandums stipulate cooperation in security, countering the illegal production of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors and their sale, as well as such areas of mutual interest as trade, investment, energy and others," said the SCO in a statement.

The SCO secretary general Zhang Ming, first deputy foreign minister of Egypt Hamdi Sanad Loza and State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi signed the documents.

Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Furkat Sidikov attended the event.

The SCO introduced a mechanism in 2008 for granting SCO dialogue partner status to any state or organisation that shares the goals and principles of the SCO.