Armenia, Azerbaijan, and 3 Other Countries Apply for Observer Status in SCO

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka have submitted a request to obtain observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This was announced to Izvestia by Mehrdad Kia, the national coordinator of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the SCO Secretariat.

“Several countries have applied for membership, including Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, among others. These countries wish to upgrade their status from dialogue partners to that of observer. We are, in principle, ready to consider this issue and come to some conclusion in coordination with the relevant candidates and member countries of the organization,” Kia stated.

According to him, “first they need to become observers, and only after that can they become full members.”