The Head of State, Alexander Lukashenko, counts on the support of Kazakhstan, which is chairing the SCO, for Belarus to become a member of this international organization in the summer. He stated this at a meeting with the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Belarus, Yerlan Baizhanov, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
The Head of State noted that Kazakhstan currently chairs the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). "We know that in February you ratified all documents on Belarus's membership in the SCO. We are very grateful to you for this," said the President of Belarus.
He noted that the next SCO summit is tentatively planned to be held in Astana in July of the current year. "It would be very symbolic, and we would welcome it, if Belarus became a full member of the SCO precisely in Astana. We will ask you about this. A lot naturally depends on the presiding party. And our Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to work more actively in this regard," stated the Belarusian leader.
Earlier, in an interview with BELTA, the Deputy Secretary General of the SCO, Nurlan Yermekbayev, stated that there are all grounds for Belarus to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the near future. "We all hope, and there are all grounds for this, that in the near future the Republic of Belarus will become a full member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Although Belarus is not new to the SCO, it has long been an observer state, and during this time it has proven itself, perhaps, no less actively than the member states of the organization, making various good proposals and initiatives. Therefore, all SCO member states have unanimously supported the desire of the Republic of Belarus to act as a full member," emphasized Nurlan Yermekbayev.
Answering a clarifying question about whether to expect Belarus's official accession at the upcoming SCO summit in Astana in the summer of 2024, Nurlan Yermekbayev answered affirmatively: "At the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State, which will take place in Kazakhstan (the exact dates will be announced later, it usually happens in the summer, in June-July), we hope that a decision will be made for Belarus to become a full member of the SCO."