FM: Belarus attaches great importance to cooperation with SCO

Belarus attaches great importance to cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and considers this association as an important player in the system of international relations, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Aleinik said as he met with SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

“I am sincerely glad to welcome you on the hospitable Belarusian soil. We have been looking forward to your visit. We attach great importance to cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We regard it as an important player in the system of international relations, which in recent years has gained serious political and economic weight,” the minister said.

He emphasized that the population of the SCO member countries is 3.5 billion people, which is about half of the world's population.

“We are sincerely glad to welcome you. And we look forward to a very constructive and fruitful dialogue. The dialogue related to the process of our country's accession to the SCO, with the development of many areas of cooperation with the organization. We have already been participating in some of them. Our membership will help us make full use of the potential created in the SCO,” Sergei Aleinik said.

In turn, Zhang Ming expressed his gratitude for the invitation to come to Belarus. This is his first visit to the country. “This visit is very long-awaited for me,” the SCO secretary general emphasized.