Lukashenko arrived in Astana to participate in SCO summit
President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has arrived in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, to participate in the summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, BelTA reports
Aleksandr Lukashenko is also expected to hold a number of meetings and negotiations with his foreign colleagues on the sidelines of the event. The leaders of a range of states and heads of international organisations are already in Astana, including the presidents of Russia, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkiye, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, as well as the UN Secretary General.
Belarus views the SCO as an international platform for identifying specific mechanisms to develop interaction in countering the threats of terrorism, extremism, organised crime and drug trafficking. Our country advocates strengthening the SCO economic dimension as the most important factor of stability in the Eurasian region.
Belarus has been participating in the SCO since 2010 as a dialogue partner and since 2015 as an observer state. After the Council of Heads of State meeting in Samarkand on September 16th, 2022, a decision was signed to begin the procedure of Belarus’ joining the organisation. As part of this process, Belarus has joined over 40 treaties.
In 2023, the SCO states accounted for 70.4 percent of Belarus’ total trade turnover, and by late January and April 2024 the figure stood at 71.4 percent.
Alongside President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko, the summit will be attended by the heads of state and government of Kazakhstan, India, Iran, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, the UAE, Turkiye and Turkmenistan, as well as the SCO Secretary General and the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
The summit will also be attended by the UN Secretary General and the heads of international organisations such as the CIS, the ECO, the CICA, the CSTO, the EEC and the IOFS.
Currently, the SCO unites nine members: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Thus, after the completion of the acceptance procedure, Belarus will become the tenth member of the organisation.
Three countries have an observer state status at the SCO: Afghanistan, Belarus (since 2015) and Mongolia.
The SCO dialogue partners include 14 states: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Sri Lanka.
In 2023-2024, Kazakhstan will preside over the SCO. It is planned that following the results of the Council of Heads of State in Astana, the chairmanship will pass to China.
