On 14 September 2022, Tashkent hosted a ceremony of signing memorandums on granting SCO dialogue partner status to the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar as part of preparations for the meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council.
SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming, First Deputy Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Hamdi Sanad Loza and State Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi signed the documents.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Furkat Sidikov attended the event on behalf of Uzbekistan.
The memorandums stipulate cooperation in security, countering the illegal production of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors and their sale, as well as such areas of mutual interest as trade, investment, energy and others.
In 2008, the SCO introduced a mechanism for granting SCO dialogue partner status to any state or organisation that shares the goals and principles of the SCO and wishes to establish relations of equitable and mutually beneficial partnership with the SCO.
