Belarus pushing for quick accession into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

THE Prime Minister of Belarus has urged for Minsk’s accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be stepped up.

Belarus’ Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko wants to speed up the process of Minsk’s accession to the SCO, as reported on Wednesday, December 14.

“We should focus on integration with our main partner Russia and such integration entities as the CIS, EAEC, SCO and so on,” Golovchenko said while introducing Sergei Aleinik as the new Foreign Minister to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

He added: “Defend our interests there, where we are already involved, and maximise the process of accession to those organizations in respect of which such decisions have been taken. I am talking primarily about the SCO,” as reported by RIA.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian political, economic and security organisation.

It is the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia, 40 per cent of the world population, and more than 30 per cent of global GDP.

The founding members of the SCO are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

India and Pakistan both joined in 2017, while Iran and Belarus are both acceding members.

Back in October, Golovchenko also urged the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to expand its cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Collective Security Council (CSTO).

Speaking at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government in Astana on Friday, October 28, Roman Golovchenko said that the Commonwealth of Independent States needs to expand cooperation with the EAEU, the CSTO and the SCO.

“It is necessary to intensify the linkage of regional integration processes in order to economic consolidation of Eurasia,” said Roman Golovchenko.

“We propose to pay special attention to expanding the cooperation of the Commonwealth with organisations with which we share common interests in countering challenges and threats – these are the EAEU, the CSTO and the SCO.”

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