During the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, declared his support for Azerbaijan's membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Regarding the matter, economist and deputy Vugar Bayramov stated in an interview with Medianews.az that Azerbaijan, conducting a multi-vector foreign policy, strengthens partnerships with most leading international institutions, including the SCO and most of the member states of the organization: “Azerbaijan, deepening its cooperation with the West and the East, is increasingly playing a role in maintaining regional security.
Partnership with the SCO means cooperation with the largest organization in the world by geography and population. The organization covers 65 percent of Eurasia and 24 percent of the world's territory, and 42 percent of the world's population lives in the member states. This also means that 23 percent of the global nominal GDP and 36 percent of the real economy are formed in these countries.
Azerbaijan is one of the 14 countries with dialogue partnership with the organization. In the organization with 10 members, 2 countries are represented as observers. Currently, Azerbaijan, which has dialogue partnership status in the SCO, has officially applied to obtain observer country status. Azerbaijan cooperates closely with this organization as a dialogue partner.”
According to V. Bayramov, against the background of strengthening cooperation with the SCO, developing partnerships with Western countries, including the USA, remains a priority for Azerbaijan: “Multi-vector foreign policy further strengthens Azerbaijan’s geopolitical position.”
Naila Gasimova,
Medianews.az
