​Azerbaijan officially granted status of SCO dialogue partner

Baku. 14 March. REPORT.AZ/ Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Rashid Alimov and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov signed the Memorandum for Azerbaijan SCO dialogue partner status. 

Report informs citing RIA Novosti, the signing ceremony was held on Monday at the SCO headquarters in Beijing.

"Today, Azerbaijan received, to be more precise formally established the status of a dialogue partner. It is a great honor for us. The way of our relations started back in 2012, when the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev sent SCO a formal letter with the initiative that Azerbaijan receives the status of SCO observer. So, as you know, Azerbaijan has considerably higher ambitions than just the status on the dialogue ... I think that today's document, signed here, gives us the opportunity to start a dialogue with a very important, very interesting organization, "- said Mammadyarov.

SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov, in turn, noted that SCO is considering the signing of the memorandum, "as an important contribution to the further development of the organization."

"The status of the partner in the dialogue will allow the Republic of Azerbaijan get actively involved in multi-faceted and diverse activities of the organization through participation in existing mechanisms of cooperation", - said Alimov.

The decision to grant Azerbaijan a dialogue partner status was adopted at the summit in Ufa in July last year.

The SCO includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Belarus, Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have statuses of observer.