Islamabad: President Mamnoon Hussain will represent Pakistan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tashkent on June 23-24, officials said on Tuesday.
It is expected that Pakistan along with India will formally join the six-nation SCO as a full member. Foreign Office said that Pakistan was invited to start the process of becoming full SCO member at the Heads of State Council meeting held in Ufa, Russia in July 2015.
"Pakistan is expected to sign the Memorandum of Obligations at Tashkent which will be major step towards becoming a full member of the SCO," it said. Prior to that, as an Observer State of the SCO, Pakistan has been making substantive contribution to regional peace, security and development.
The SCO comprises six Member States, five Observers and three Dialogue Partners. Established in June 2001, Pakistan became an Observer in SCO in 2005 and was the first country to apply for full membership in 2010.
The SCO is working to strengthen friendly relations amongst states, maintenance of peace, stability and security in the region, building a new, just and rational international political and economic order, joint efforts in combating terrorism, extremism, separatism and the menace of narcotic substances.
Its member- states include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The SCO Heads of States Council (HSC) is the highest decision-making body of the Organisation. The President will also hold important bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, it said.
