LOGOISK DISTRICT, 23 September (BelTA) - Belarus expects to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in a year, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the media as he visited the Khatyn Memorial Complex on 23 September, BelTA has learned.
“Everyone has done this [underwent the procedure of becoming an SCO member] except for the founders. The next meeting will take place in India, and I have set a task for the government and the ministry of foreign affairs in the first place to do everything necessary within a year (the organization will not meet earlier than this),” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
According to the regulations on the admission of new members to the SCO, the applicant state must accede to the international treaties operating in the organization (there are about 40 of them) and make the necessary changes in the national law. For example, it took Iran more than a year and a half to do so. “This country went the same way that we have to go. We will do it within a year. As soon as we adopt everything that has been worked out in this organization, they will gather this information and submit it to the heads of state for consideration at a meeting in Delhi. They will make a decision, just as they did on Iran. If everything is okay, we become a member. This is the path everyone has to take before joining the organization,” the president said.
As BelTA previously reported, Aleksandr Lukashenko attended the SCO summit on 15-16 September. For Belarus, the main outcome of the meeting of the heads of state in Samarkand was the beginning of the procedure for its admission to the organization. Belarus' application was supported unanimously at the summit.
