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Pakistan seeks Russian help for SCO membership

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help his country gain full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

"I thank you for helping Pakistan gain the status of SCO observer and would like to ask you to back our country [in its bid] to receive permanent membership," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted General Musharraf as telling the Russian leader during their meeting in Shanghai on Thursday, on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

"Pakistan could play a very important role in the SCO's activity," General Musharraf stated. He said the SCO goals were to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism as well as to promote trade and economic cooperation.

"We are ready to render assistance in achieving our common goals," he said.

Pakistan received observer status, along with India and Iran, in the Shanghai group last July. The concerted position of the SCO member-states is that no expansion of the organisation will be possible until rules and criteria for admitting new members are approved.

President Putin expressed the hope for further development of Russia-Pakistan interaction.

"Our relations, particularly in the political sphere, are developing well and we hope to do a lot to bring economic interaction to a new level after a long hiatus," Mr. Putin said.

"We have many fields of cooperation, including metallurgy, the oil and gas sector, transport, electric power industry and new technologies, including space exploration," he told General Musharraf.

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