Dushanbe, 18.04.2016 /NIAT “Khovar”/. Armenia has formalized today the status of dialogue partner of the Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO). At the SCO headquarters, SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian have signed the corresponding Memorandum.

“The status of SCO dialogue partner will allow Armenia to be actively engaged in multifaceted and diverse activities of the organization by means of participation in existing mechanisms of cooperation”, — SCO Secretary General said in his speech.

He has stressed that with the signing of the Memorandum the implementation of the Ufa decisions of the Council of the SCO Heads of States — the official formalization of the status of dialogue partners of Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, and Armenia completes.

“From now on, SCO dialogue partners are six states”, — SCO Secretary General stated.

SCO members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In total the “SCO family” taking into account observer states and dialogue partners includes 18 countries. A number of states have expressed their intention to participate in the activities of the organization, uniting the countries with a population of about 3 billion people.