Armenia Joins Shanghai Cooperation Organization as ‘Partner in Dialogue’

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Armenia’s joining of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a partner nation (Source: Sputnik News)

UFA (Sputnik News)—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Nepal have been admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as partner nations, 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 the SCO’s Heads of Governments Council in the Russian city of Ufa.

Prior to the decision, the SCO had three dialogue partners—Belarus, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.

The SCO summit also launched procedures to accept new members India and Pakistan, Putin 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.