Belarus joins SCO as tenth member at Astana Summit

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana, Belarus officially joined the association with a ceremonial signing of documents attended by President Vladimir Putin and other heads of member states.

Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev confirmed that Belarus swiftly completed all necessary procedures for full membership in the organization, Caliber.Az reports citing Russian media.

With this accession, Belarus becomes the tenth full-fledged member alongside China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming emphasized that while membership expansion is not currently a priority for the SCO, discussions continue on applications for dialogue partner and observer statuses to enhance the organization's activities.

He noted that Belarus' path to full membership began at the Samarkand summit in 2022.