Malaysia does not see the need to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at this stage, foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said.
He said Malaysia should focus on strengthening Asean while exploring opportunities to expand its engagement and cooperation with the SCO, Bernama reported.
“We already have Asean, and it needs to be further empowered while we continue building better relations with the SCO,” he told Malaysian media in Beijing, where he was accompanying Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on a four-day working visit to China.
“The prime minister was invited as a special guest and given the opportunity to speak at the forum. For the time being, we do not see a need to become a member state of the SCO.”
Formed in 2001, the SCO is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes cooperation in politics, the economy, security, technology, energy and transport.
Its 10 members – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus – represent more than three billion people, or about 45% of the global population.
The combined gross domestic product of the organisation in 2023 accounted for around 32% of global output.
