India, Pak to become full SCO members at Astana summit: China

BEIJING: India and Pakistan’s admission as full members to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be formalised at the political and security grouping’s summit in Kazakhstan next week, China announced today, while hoping that they would “strictly follow” its charter.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hoped that the admission of India and Pakistan as full members would help improve their bilateral relations.

“Hope India and Pakistan strictly follow the charter of the SCO and the idea of good neighbourliness, uphold the SCO spirit, improve their relations and inject new impetus to the development of the SCO,” Hua told a media briefing here.

She confirmed that the lengthy process of their admission into the group, which took years until China gave its nod, was over and the two countries would become full members at the grouping’s summit to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on June 8-9. (AGENCIES)