Putin on intermediate results of Astana talks on Syrian settlement
President Putin who attends the Summit in Astana along with other SCO leaders said that India and Pakistan fulfilled all conditions and completed all necessary procedures to join the SCO after the Ufa Summit in 2015.
"Now it is our goal to help our new partners get involved in the SCO activities. The expansion will undoubtedly help the SCO become a more powerful organization and will also increase its political, economic and humanitarian influence. New opportunities are emerging as far as influencing the regional and global processes is concerned," Vladimir Putin said.
At the same time the Russian President noted that fight on terrorism should be of uncompromising nature.
"It is crucial to make every effort to neutralize the ideology of terrorism. In this connection, the role of the SCO regional anti-terror structure is gaining momentum," he pointed out.
In his remarks at the summit Vladimir Putin emphasized that the SCO is stepping up efforts to regulate conflicts in the Middle East, especially in Syria.
"I would like to note that lately promising moments have emerged in the Syrian crisis development and this is directly linked to launching international meetings in Astana with the help of Russia, Turkey and Iran. The most important achievement is the agreement on ceasefire zones in Syria. Now on this basis a real chance has emerged to consolidate ceasefire and give an impetus to the intra-Syrian negotiating process in Geneva," he added.
In conclusion, Putin proposed to resume activities of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group.