Lavrov hopes SCO summit in Ufa will launch process of accepting news members

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Wednesday he hopes that SCO summit in Ufa will affirm the organization’s ability to flexibly react to changing circumstances. "We pay increasingly more attention to the work of SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] and BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] that will hold summits in July in Ufa," Lavrov said. "We hope that the SCO summit will affirm the organization’s ability to flexibly react to changing circumstances which will become an important step in implementing the principle of openness outlined in its fundamental documents and give a start to the process of accepting new members," he noted. "Russia’s presidency in BRICs is aimed at further transformation of the association into a mechanism of strategic cooperation," Lavrov added. "The specter of cooperation spheres is growing," the foreign minister noted. "In particular, the parliamentary dimension of BRICS activity will be launched by a parliamentary forum which will take place on June 8 in Moscow," he noted. Read more