SCO grows, expands, does more work

The two-day meeting of the Council of Shanghai Cooperation Organization Heads of State, which opened on Thursday in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, adopted procedural steps for the current observers India and Pakistan to join the organization, as part of its expansion program.

The SCO meeting followed the seventh BRICS Summit in the same city on Wednesday and Thursday. It is also the second time this year that Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited Russia. At the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Xi attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow just two months ago.

The SCO currently has six member states - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The admission of India and Pakistan will be the first time the bloc has added full members.