Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that grants the Kingdom the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defense organization. It includes India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, with Iran set to join soon.
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The approval came during a Saudi Cabinet session headed by the King at the al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, according to SPA.
During the session, King Salman also authorized the launch of technical and vocational training between the Kingdom and China.
The Saudi leader also condemned the burning of the holy Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Denmark that took place last Friday, stressing the need to consolidate the values of dialogue, tolerance, and respect.
Saudi Arabia and China have made significant efforts to develop relations between the two countries.
On Tuesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman thanked China for the role it played in facilitating “good neighborly relations” between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
On March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic ties through a Chinese mediation after the two nations severed ties in 2016.
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goodfellamantegna on March 29th, 2023 at 20:37 UTC »
The Organisation maintains regular information contacts with the UN Secretariat and the UN institutions represented in Beijing. Traditionally, high-ranking representatives of the UN attend annual SCO summits upon the invitation of the country holding SCO's current presidency.
From the UN website: "Since its inception in 2001, the SCO has mainly focused on regional security issues, its fight against regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. To date, the SCO’s priorities also include regional development.
They want to create a real multilateral framework for the world using the existing channels available.
TheThirdDumpling on March 29th, 2023 at 09:46 UTC »
Submission statement:
"Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that grants the Kingdom the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday. "
SCO is an "political, economical, security and defense organization" that include Russia, India, China, Iran is set to join soon.
Even though Asia seems splitting into multiple packs: SCO, ASEAN, Korea/Japan/Philippine, etc All countries are communicating and have no desire for systematic confrontation, so risk of conflict remains low.