The Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) isn’t an “elite club” and is willing to interact with non-member nations, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. Medvedev is currently in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, along with leaders of other SCO member-nations, for the 10th anniversary of the group. Founded in the year 2001, the SCO consists of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and China, while Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia hold observers’ status. Ten years after the formation of the group, the member nations are due to discuss the implications of the Arab Spring and the future of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Afghan President Karzai has expressed hope that the country would be accepted to SCO. President Medvedev pointed out that Moscow and other SCO member countries support the notion of establishing a multifaceted relationship with Afghanistan. “Russia is calling for more intensive and deeper cooperation between the SCO and Afghanistan,” Medvedev stated at the summit. “Eventually, the process of political stabilization in Afghanistan depends on this (extended cooperation with the SCO), and the security of our states to a great degree depends on the situation in this country,” he further commented.

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China and Russia have agreed to team up in addressing issues relating to the popular revolts in some nations in North Africa and the Middle East. Discussions with China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi last week in Moscow are expected to lay the foundation for the trip by President Hu Jintao next month to Russia. Sustained Chinese-Russian initiatives to “coordinate” their viewpoint on international and regional issues were taken to a new level concerning the ongoing situation in the Middle East. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that the stance of Beijing and Moscow was based on the belief that each nation must “determine its future independently without outside interference.” Concerning reports that the NATO is planning a ground operation in Libya, the foreign minister said Russia would oppose this move if it is brought to the UN Security Council for approval. According to him, the UN resolution which allowed military operation in the African nation “directly and unequivocally ruled out ground operations”.

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