President arrives in Tashkent today

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan: President Mamnoon Hussain will arrive Wednesday to represent Pakistan at the Heads of States Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization being held in the Uzbek capital on June 23-24.

The summit is important as Pakistan will become full member of the SCO which will brighten its prospects of gaining strong position in the region, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan Riaz Bukhari told APP.

He said Pakistan was invited to start the process of becoming full SCO member at the Heads of State Council meeting held in Ufa Russia in July 2015. With signing of the Memorandum of Obligations at Tashkent, Pakistan will become full member of SCO following its substantive contribution to regional peace, he said.

The ambassador mentioned that on becoming full SCO member, Pakistan would be in a better place to strengthen relations with member states including Russia, China and Central Asian states.

On the sidelines of SCO summit, President Mamnoon will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Uzbek President Islam Karimov and other visiting heads of state. The Foreign Office in a statement termed the SCO an important organization founded in Shanghai in June 2001. Its member states include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The SCO Heads of States Council is the highest decision-making body of the organization. It comprises six member states, five observers and three dialogue partners. Pakistan got the observer status in SCO in 2005 and was the first country to apply for full membership in 2010, the statement mentioned.

The SCO aims at strengthening friendly relations among states, maintenance of peace, stability and security in the region, building a rational international, political and economic order.