Events

Belarus ratifies memorandum to join Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Evgeny Shestakov

MINSK, 1 November (BelTA) – The bill on the ratification of the memorandum of commitment by the Republic of Belarus to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was approved at a sitting of the 11th session of the Council of the Republic of the seventh convocation, BelTA has learned.

The bill expresses the consent by the Republic of Belarus to ratify the memorandum, which is defined by the SCO member states as a necessary condition for Belarus' to join the organization., Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Evgeny Shestakov said.

The memorandum is an international treaty and contains the commitments assumed by Belarus in order to become of a member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

In particular, Belarus undertakes to comply with the purposes and principles of the SCO Charter of 7 June 2002, the SCO Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation of 16 August 2007 and international treaties and documents adopted within the framework of the SCO. In addition, Belarus undertakes to accede to all international treaties and documents adopted within the framework of the SCO within the time limits provided for in Article 3 of the memorandum.

The document is subject to ratification by all signatory countries of the memorandum, including India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. As of today, the Belarusian memorandum has been ratified by five out of eight countries. It is yet to be ratified by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

"We can say that we are already on the home stretch and are witnessing a historic event for Belarus – the accession to the Shanghai family," Evgeny Shestakov stressed.

The upper house of the Belarusian Parliament ratified the agreement on cooperation in education between the Government of Belarus and the Government of Vietnam, the agreement on mutual recognition of documents on academic degrees in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, approved the bill "On the termination of the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of Ukraine on joint control at checkpoints on the belarusian-ukrainian state border."

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