India, Pakistan's accession to SCO may change balance of powers in the world - Karimov

TASHKENT. KAZINFORM - President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov believes that accession of two nuclear powers - India and Pakistan to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) may change the balance of powers in international arena, Kazinform correspondent Madi Arkhabayev reports.

Karimov expressed such point of view during the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Ufa, Russia. "How long will the process of these two countries' accession take, given that India and Pakistan are not ordinary states, but they possess nuclear weapons? Tomorrow their accession to the SCO will not merely change the political map, I think it may change the balance of powers," the Uzbek President said. It is worth mentioning that Uzbekistan takes over the SCO presidency from Russia. The SCO consists of six countries - Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have an observer-nation status. India and Pakistan applied for full SCO membership in September 2014.