MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Shanghai Group is expected to consider Mongolia as the next member of the organization, which is set to become a transport hub, the director of the Russia department of the SCO International Relations Institute said Wednesday.
“We hope that the SCO will consider the issue of accepting new member states, including Mongolia. New members will receive aid to develop security,” Feng Noyzun said at the International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya press conference.
“We will seek more innovative ways of collaboration. China, Russia and Kazakhstan have reached a lot of mutual understanding in Central Asia, the oil and gas pipelines are just the start of the partnership,” he said.
“For Mongolia, we need to see how it can become a transport hub in SCO, and how it could offer a new model of cooperation,” the Chinese expert added.
Chen Yu Zhu, who also heads the international relations institute, said expanding the SCO is important as it will lead to stronger influence of the organization on the international arena.
“The SCO today faces a difficult situation. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan hope that if they join the SCO they will enhance their security, and it will be a good stimulus for their economy. The SCO will increase the market for India, the telecoms leader in the region,” he said.
Andrei Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, said: “Mongolia’s membership is a prospect. Mongolia has its own keys to North Korea. So the SCO is not a war or economic bloc, but a more flexible, more functional organization. And that is why the Mongolian case is needed.”
The Chinese experts participated in the video link-up between Moscow and Beijing organized by the International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya press center ahead of the SCO summit to be held in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on September 11-12.
SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are currently observer members.
