Sergey Lebedev, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), has announced that the possibility of granting the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) observer status with the CIS is currently under consideration.

This statement was made on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum of the CIS Member States, which is being held from March 28th to 29th in the city of Moscow at the World Trade Center venue.

Mr. Lebedev expressed his confidence that the granting of such status would further strengthen the interconnections between the CIS and the SCO. According to him, observer status would allow the SCO to participate more actively in discussions concerning regional security and economic cooperation.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) unites 10 member states (Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). Additionally, the SCO engages with 2 observer states (Afghanistan, Mongolia) and 14 dialogue partners (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Türkiye, and Sri Lanka).

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