Saudi Arabia Closes To SCO: Joins Russia To China, Status Partner Dialogue

Leaders of SCO member countries during the Summit in Uzbekistan in 2022. (Wikimedia Commons/Prime Minister's Office)

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which provides the status of a dialogue partner for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Saudi Arabia's Official News Agency (SPA) reported.

Launching Al Arabiya from the SPA March 29, the approval came in a session of the Saudi Cabinet led by the King at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

Joining SCO was discussed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia last December, sources told Reuters.

"The status of dialogue partners will be the first step in this organization before giving full membership to Saudi Arabia in the medium term," they said.

In the same session, King Salman also authorized the launch of technical and vocational training between the Kingdom and China. Saudi Arabia and China are known to have made significant efforts, to develop relations between the two countries.

On Tuesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman thanked China for its role in facilitating "good neighboring relations" between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Three weeks ago, on March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic relations through China's mediation after the two countries cut ties in 2016.

Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet countries in Central Asia, SCO has been expanded by including India and Pakistan, with the aim of playing a bigger role as a balancer of Western influence in the region.

SCO itself is an international political, economic, security and defense organization of Eurasia. SCO currently consists of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and Iran will soon join.

Separately, Riyadh's increasingly close ties to Beijing have raised security concerns in the United States, its traditional ally. Washington says China's efforts to use its influence around the world will not change the US policy against the Middle East. Washington says it will remain an active partner in the region.