In Tashkent on Wednesday, on the eve of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, memorandums were signed on granting Egypt and Qatar the status of dialogue partners in the SCO. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The documents were signed by SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming, Egypt's First Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Sanad Loza and Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Mureikhi. On behalf of Uzbekistan, the event was attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Furqat Sidiqov.
The memorandums provide for cooperation between the SCO and these two countries in the areas of regional security and stability, trade and investment, energy, ICT, agriculture, transport and communications, culture, science and technology, education, healthcare, tourism and others.
The status of a partner state gives the right to attend events held within the framework of the SCO, at the invitation of the member states of the organization. Memorandums take effect from the date of their signing.
On the eve it was reported that six countries, including four Arab states, will receive the status of partners.
Prior to this, six countries were partners in the SCO dialogue - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
