SCO turning into Shanghai Eight

At the Astana Summit, President Nazarbayev noted that the SCO is expanding as India and Pakistan are about to become its full-fledged members.

"The decision to grant the observer status to India and Pakistan was signed here in Astana 12 years ago... Today's meeting is important because these two countries participate in it for the first time. Now the zone of the SCO responsibility embraces the territory with population of over three billion people. That means that the organization embarks on a new stage in its institutional development as the Shanghai Eight," Nursultan Nazarbayev noted at the session in the extended format.

The Kazakh leader reminded that the member states observe growth of geopolitical tension in some regions that border the SCO territory. "Given that the adoption of the SCO Heads of State's Statement on joint fight against international terrorism is a timely step. I would like to note that the SCO Convention on counter-extremism that we are about to sign is also relevant," the Head of State said.

President Nazarbayev also pointed out that the SCO did a lot to strengthen cooperation with various international organizations. For instance, the Resolution of the UN General Assembly with the SCO was adopted in November 2016.