SCO Should Be Strengthened as Platform for Constructive Interaction: Putin

SAMARKAND (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said that now the task was to ensure the strengthening of the SCO as a platform for constructive and constructive interaction.

"The task is to ensure the all-round strengthening of the SCO as a platform for constructive and productive interaction," he said.

Putin noted that the organization included countries with different cultural and civilizational traditions, foreign policy guidelines and models of national development.

"However, building work on the principles of equality and mutual benefit, respect for each other's sovereignty and refusal to interfere in internal affairs made it possible to turn this organization into an effective mechanism for multilateral cooperation in a short historical period," Putin said.

Uzbekistan, the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), hosts the annual summit in the city of Samarkand.

During the summit, Putin will talk with counterparts from China, Iran, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Turkey.

The SCO was founded in 2001. India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are its members.

Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are observer states; Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners. At the SCO summit in Dushanbe in September 2021, the procedure to admit Iran to the organization and grant the status of dialogue partners to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia was launched. This year, Belarus officially applied to join the SCO as a full member.