Saudi Arabia on March 29 decided to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The decision to join the SCO comes as Riyadh builds a long-term relationship with China as the West Asian nations ties with the US goes through a rough patch.
- The Saudi Arabian government approved a memorandum granting the kingdom status of a dialogue partner in the SCO. This is essentially the first step to join the SCO.
About SCO
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is an Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance of eight member multilateral organisation, established on 15th June 2001 in Shanghai, China.
- SCO includes 08 member states, 03 observers and 14 dialogue partner countries.
- India was granted Observer status at the July 2005 Astana Summit and the status of full member on 9th June, 2017 at the SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
