New Delhi
17 February 2007
Russia has said that "provisions have been worked out" for
welcoming India as a full-fledged member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
(SCO). Russian Ambassador to India Vyacheslav I Trubnikov has said that the members
of the six-country grouping are likely to approve of it soon.
"It is for India to decide now ... we want to invite other countries but they have to decide
who wants to stay as observer and who wants to become a member," Ambassador
Trubnikov said on Friday. He said that the SCO was open to other countries joining it and
referred to Brazil in particular. "Brazil is a non-regional country and so far from Asia but
it depends on Brazil," he observed.
In a throwback to the Cold War era, Ambassador Trubnikov wanted to know why the
United States and the West reneged on their promises insofar as the NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was concerned. He sought to remind Washington that it
made certain promises but pursued a "hush-hush policy, behind the scenes". "Let us not
cheat each other," he said in an unambiguous reference to the US.
"The picture [of NATO expansion and of giving military infrstructure to east European
countries] is absolutely the opposite of what was promised," Ambassador Trubnikov
observed. He said that Washington's argument that east European countries were being
given military infrastructure to guard against a possible attack from Iran "does not sound
persuasive". He added that Russia "did not believe that the Iran nuclear issue could not
be sorted out without using force".
The envoy insisted that the SCO is not a military bloc. "No member is thinking of it," he
said in response to a question. "SCO is relatively young," he said, and its activities are
focussed on economy, counter-terrorism and collective security of the Central Asian
region. He, however, said that the SCO was keen to invite other countries for exercises
pertaining to counter-terrorism cooperation.
India, Mongolia, Iran and Pakistan are observers of the SCO. Established in 2001, the
six-nation SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. India went under-represented in the last SCO meeting in Astana,
Kazakhstan, in 2006. Dr Singh chose to depute Union Minister of State Prithviraj Chavan
for the meeting of the heads of government of members and observers of the SCO.
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