The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, Pakistan wants to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the country's president told a Russian business daily ahead of the group's summit in Russia's Urals.
Pakistan has observer status in the alliance, which comprises Russia, China and four Central Asian states. The SCO's two-day summit will start on Monday in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
President Asif Ali Zardari told Kommersant that joining the alliance is important for Pakistan.
"We believe that this organization is an important platform for strengthening trust and regional security, and contributing to economic cooperation. We would like to participate fully in the SCO's programs and events and also play a corresponding role to contribute to the realization of its goals and tasks," he said.
Pakistan will be joined by delegations from India, Iran and Mongolia, who are also participating as observers in the SCO summit.
The alliance, comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, primarily addresses security issues, but has been widening its remit to embrace economic and energy projects, including discussions on North Korea.
A Russian analyst said last week that the expansion of the SCO would be a long and relatively complicated process.
The president of the Polity Foundation and head of the department of history and political science at the Moscow-based International University, Vyacheslav Nikonov, said: "The expansion of the SCO is so far not on the agenda, but a relevant decision is quite possible. A larger SCO would be more influential, but it is clear that expansion will be a long and relatively complicated process."
He said that the SCO observers are widely different countries with different interests in the organization.
"For example, Iran is interested in becoming a full member, viewing it as a guarantee of its security," he said. "But the other countries may not be ready to extend such a guarantee at this point. Or take the new Mongolian leadership, which is said to be pro-Western, but we cannot be sure of its position regarding the SCO after the elections" in late May.
Nikonov said there were major contradictions between the SCO observer countries. In his words, differences between India and Pakistan are especially large and could complicate the SCO expansion.
"Of course, if one of them is admitted to the SCO and the other is not, the latter country is unlikely to keep its observer status," the analyst said. "Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility of SCO expansion, but I do not think it will happen soon."
On bilateral relations with Russia, Zardari said the Pakistani government welcomed the opening of a new chapter in cooperation and relations with Russia. He said there was huge potential in developing ties between the two countries in economics and trade, especially in communications, energy, infrastructure and technology.
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