China congratulates Saudi Arabia on joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press conference on Thursday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2023) China congratulates Saudi Arabia on joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press conference on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud approved the memorandum conferring dialogue partner status at the SCO on the kingdom, signed in September 2022 during the SCO summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand.
"We congratulate Saudi Arabia on becoming a dialogue partner of the SCO. China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with Saudi Arabia within the SCO to contribute more to safeguarding regional peace and stability and promoting common development," she said.
The SCO is an international political, economic, security and defense organization formed in 2001. It includes India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia as observers and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners. Memorandums on giving Egypt and Qatar dialogue partner status were also signed at the summit in Samarkand. Bahrain, the Maldives, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Myanmar are expected to receive the same status soon.
