16.5.11

India seeks full membership of SCO

India has officially sought full membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the central Asian grouping dominated by China and Russia, looked upon by many as an emerging counter weight to the NATO. India will vie for full membership with rival Pakistan—which officially applied much earlier and has China’s backing — at the SCO summit meet next month in Kazakhstan’s Astana where the group will take up the expansion issue. Both India and Pakistan, along with Iran and Mongolia, have observer status at SCO. The group, which exercises immense influence comprises Russia, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as full time members.

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