Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Some foreign publications reported that Belarus would become a member of the organization at the SCO summit in Samarkand.

The National Coordinator of the SCO of Uzbekistan Rahmatulla Nurimbetov commented on these reports.

Nurimbetov said that Belarus officially applied to join the SCO as a full member in June. However, a final decision has not yet been made.

“This issue is currently being studied by 8 Member States, but no final decision has been made yet. This issue is included in the agenda of the meeting of the national coordinators of the SCO member states, which will be held on 10-14 September in Samarkand.

We can say that there are good chances that a consensus will be reached for the admission of Belarus as a full member of the SCO. This means that at the Samarkand summit a decision can be made by the heads of state to start the procedure for accepting this state as a full member of the SCO. However, this decision does not mean that Belarus will automatically become a full member of the SCO.

Experience shows that such a process usually takes an average of two years. Because the candidate state must fulfill a number of obligations, and this will take some time,” said Rakhmatulla Nurimbetov.