ASTANA -- India and Pakistan are expected to be declared full-fledged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at a summit of the regional security group in the Kazakh capital, Astana.
The two-day summit of the SCO, which comprises China, Russia, and the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, begins on June 8.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Astana on June 7 and held talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev on bilateral ties on June 8.
Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of the summit to discuss bilateral ties and the situation in the Korean Peninsula, Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov said.
SCO membership for Pakistan and India was approved in July 2015.
Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia have observer status in the group.
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