Russia’s Lavrov to take part in meeting of Shanghai Organization council meeting

TASHKENT, May 24. /TASS/. Foreign ministers of the countries making up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization gather in Tashkent on Tuesday for a conference of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. On the Russian side, Minister Sergei Lavrov will be taking part in it. The participants will scrutinize preparations for the SCO summit that will be held in Tashkent on June 23-24. It will be devoted to the 15th anniversary since the setting up of the organization. "The Russian side hopes to ensure the high quality and content of preparations of the summit in cooperation with its SCO partners," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a comment on the eve of the conference. In line with a tradition formed by the SCO the June summit will be crowned with the adoption of a Tashkent declaration that will formulate joint approaches to a further consolidation of the association and the deepening of practical ties among the member-states, as well as to the pressing regional and international problems. The foreign ministers are expected to discuss a package of about fourteen various documents and decisions that will come under discussion at the summit. Apart from the draft Tashkent declaration, it also includes the plan of action for the years 2016 through to 2020 and a number of other documents on boosting cooperation in the struggle with terrorism, extremism, organized crime, and drugs trafficking. At this moment, the SCO embraces Russia, China, Kazakhtan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In the context of decisions on an expansion of the SCO, which the leaders of the member-states adopted at the summit in Ufa, Russia, in 2015, the foreign ministers will also mull the procedures for extending membership to India and Pakistan. Officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry are confident that India and Pakistan’s full-scale engagement in the SCO activities will work towards the strengthening of the organization’s capabilities and authority in the international arena. Read more