Chinese President Hu Jintao has sent a formal letter to President Pervez Musharraf inviting him to attend the sixth summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO).
The summit is scheduled to take place at China's major city Shanghai in middle of June this year. "We will be glad to receive President Musharraf at the summit, said a senior Chinese official while talking to APP here on Sunday.
Pakistan will be participating in the summit as an observer.
About Pakistan's full membership in the organisation, the official said the matter came under discussion during the meeting held between the two presidents in Beijing last month.
In this connection, the SCO's Secretary General Zhang Deguang also had a very useful meeting with President Musharraf.
Both sides exchanged opinions on ways of developing friendly and co-operative ties between Pakistan and the SCO. In an interview, the Secretary General said all member states of the organisation attach great importance to Pakistan and wished to develop close interaction in all areas of common interest.
There is a large space and good prospects for co-operation between the two sides, he added. Zhang added he looked forward to having a follow-up meeting with President Musharraf at the Shanghai summit.
When asked to comment on Pakistan's desire to become a full member of the SCO, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China would convey Pakistan's wish to every member country of the SCO.
The SCO pursues an open principle in absorbing new members, Liu said adding the member states were now discussing to determine the status of the four observer countries so as to promote co-operation within the organisation framework. "We need consensus in accepting new members," he added.
Pakistan Ambassador to China Salman Bashir said his country wished to be an active member of the SCO in tackling common problems and promoting its socio-economic goals. Pakistan, he assured would provide strong support to the SCO to become an effective instrument for promoting peace, stability and progress in the region.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui said the Shanghai summit would give a strong impetus to all-round development of the SCO and further expand the organisation's influence among the international community. The Chinese side, which is currently holding the presidency, has begun full-scale preparations for the summit, said Li.
The year 2006 marks the fifth anniversary of opening the SCO Secretariat and the coming summit will summarise the work in past five years and put forward the future development, the official said adding the SCO was holding the summit at its birth place and the event would be highly significant to tackle the common objectives, he added.
Meanwhile, President Musharraf in his recent interview with the Chinese media said Pakistan was eminently qualified to have full membership of SCO that was engaged in promoting peace and stability in the region as its main objective.
He forcefully pleaded Pakistan's case in the context of its geopolitical and strategic importance in the region and its legitimate right to play greater role in the regional organisations for promoting common interests in political, economic and defence fields.
Musharraf hoped to get all-out support from the Chinese government to raise Pakistan's position in SCO from observer status to full member."
Pakistan seeks full membership in this important regional body, because it has leading role in achieving the organisation's major objectives, i e fight against terrorism and to curb the menace of narcotics," he added. SCO is an intergovernmental international organisation founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also has four observer states, including Pakistan, Iran, India and Mongolia.
Comments
Comments are closed.