A Memorandum regarding the cooperation to be carried out between Turkey and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) within the framework of its dialogue partner status approved during the SCO Summit held in Beijing on 11 June 2012 was signed today in Almaty by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu and SCO Secretary General Dmitry Mezentsev, on the margins of the Ministerial meeting of the Istanbul Process for Afghanistan.

Foreign Ministers and senior officials of SCO member and observer countries also attended the signature ceremony.

The Memorandum provides for the development of cooperation in various areas between the SCO and its Dialogue Partner Turkey, particularly on regional security, fight against terrorism, prevention of drug trafficking and organized crime, as well as in economic and cultural fields.

We aim at developing comprehensively our cooperation with the SCO which we consider an important organization in providing peace, stability and development in Asia.