DUSHANBE, November 17, 2015, Asia-Plus – A regular meeting of the Council of National Coordinators of the SCO member nations and a meeting of an expert working group of the SCO member nations kicked off at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing on November 17.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, a Tajik delegation participating in the meetings is led Deputy Foreign Minister, Parviz Davlatzoda.

The meetings are reportedly discussing issues related to the SCO current agenda and coordination of the parties’ efforts in the run-up to the next meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government that will take place in China in December this year.

Issues and documents regarding admission of India and Pakistan as full members of the Organizations will also be discussed at the meetings, the source said. 

We will recall that on July 10, 2015, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members, and they are expected to join by 2016.  Welcoming SCO''s expansion, Chinese President Xi Jinping on July 10 said admission of India and Pakistan as full members will inject new impetus into the grouping''s all-ranging cooperation.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization currently has six full members -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are six observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Sri Lanka and Turkey.

The Organization’s six full members now account for 60% of the land mass of Eurasia and its population is a quarter of the world''s population.  With observer states included, its affiliates account for about half of the world''s population.