BEIJING, July 11. /Dunyo IA/. A ceremony to sign a Memorandum granting Laos the status of a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing, reports Dunyo IA correspondent.

According to the SCO, the document was signed by organization’s Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Laos Thongsavan Phomvihane.

Before the signing ceremony, a bilateral meeting took place, during which Nurlan Yermekbayev congratulated the Lao side on the official confirmation of its new status and expressed confidence that Vientiane would actively participate in implementing the SCO’s comprehensive agenda. The Secretary-General also briefed his counterpart on current organizational activities and preparations for the upcoming SCO summit in Bishkek.

The Lao Foreign Minister highly praised the role of the SCO on the international stage and emphasized that his country attaches great importance to cooperation within the organization. The sides also discussed practical steps to implement the signed memorandum and issues of cooperation between the SCO and ASEAN.

The ceremony was attended by permanent representatives of SCO member states to the Secretariat, ambassadors accredited in China, and representatives of diplomatic missions of member states of organization and dialogue partners.

It should be noted that the current SCO member states are Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Following Laos’ accession, the number of SCO dialogue partners has reached 15, which include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Laos.