Pakistan’s entry into the SCO is not just figurative but substantial.
July 10, 2015 will be marked as a red-letter day for both Pakistan and India because their submission for full membership into the powerful Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was approved by the Council of Heads of State at the SCO’s 15th summit, in the Russian town of Ufa. This is the first time that the SCO has expanded its tight knit organisation, a decade and a half after its launch. Originally the Shanghai Five, comprising of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, was founded in 1996; with the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the group was renamed as the SCO.
