Nepal Seeks Full Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Membership - Foreign Minister

Nepal Seeks Full Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Membership - Foreign Minister

Nepal seeks full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) where it is currently a dialogue partner, the country's foreign minister, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told Sputnik

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2019) Nepal seeks full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) where it is currently a dialogue partner, the country's foreign minister, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali told Sputnik.

"Last year we sent our formal request to the headquarters of the SCO to upgrade our status to observer. But it has not been decided yet ... You know, the role of dialogue partner is limited, they cannot participate in all the activities, only if they are invited they can join meeting and conferences etc. We want to be upgraded as an observer and gradually we will be happy to be a full-fledged member of the SCO," the minister said.

Gyawali added that its neighboring countries China, India and Pakistan were SCO members.

"SCO will offer us more connection with the central Asian countries as well. It is a very meaningful instrument to have more economic integration in Asia," the minister said.

The SCO, established in 2001, includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India as permanent members. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia hold the observer status, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka have the status of dialogue partners.