India on Thursday said it aspires to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), an elevation from the observer status it currently enjoys.
“Our aspiration is to become full member. We are not sure of a timeline. But we have indicated that we want to be a member,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters in the Kyrgyzstan capital. India has been an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated at the ministerial-level at summits. The SCO focusses on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian space.
The precursor of the SCO was the ‘Shanghai Five’ constituted by China in 1996 to address border security issues with four of its neighbours. SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.