Minsk expressed readiness to speed up the implementation of procedures for joining the SCO.

Official Minsk is ready to speed up the implementation of international legal procedures for Belarus to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a full member, said Igor Bely, head of the main department for Asia, Africa and Latin America of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

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According to the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, on January 17 the diplomat participated in the signing ceremony of the protocol following consultations between the authorized representatives of the SCO member states and the authorized representative of Belarus.

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“During the event, the Belarusian side voiced its readiness to speed up the implementation of international legal procedures for joining the SCO as a full member,” the report says.

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Since 2010, Belarus has been a dialogue partner, and since 2015 it has the status of an official SCO observer. The decision to start the procedure for admitting Belarus to the organization was made at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in September 2022.