The leaders of both South Caucasus nations attended and addressed the summit held in the Chinese city of Tianjin on Monday.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry did not deny Azerbaijani media reports about a Pakistani veto on Armenia’s SCO membership bid which came the day after Yerevan and Islamabad agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
“We will not go into the details of the process right now, but I can say that we see a sufficiently constructive approach and mutual understanding regarding Armenia's membership,” said a ministry spokeswoman.
Earlier on Monday, Azerbaijani media outlets said that India has again vetoed Azerbaijan’s application to join the SCO because of Baku’s pro-Pakistani stance. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appeared to confirm that during an ensuing meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Aliyev reportedly accused New Delhi of “trying to take revenge on Azerbaijan on international platforms.”
Azerbaijan openly sided with Pakistan during its recent armed conflict with India. For its part, Islamabad has for decades backed Baku in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Yerevan had accused Pakistani troops of participating in the 2020 war in Karabakh on the Azerbaijani side.
Azerbaijani-Pakistani military ties have continued to deepen after the six-week war. Meanwhile, Armenia has stepped up military cooperation with India.
The Armenian government announced plans to join the SCO in July nearly three months after committing itself to seeking Armenia’s membership in the European Union. The move followed Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s visit to China during which he and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi agreed to upgrade Chinese-Armenian relations to “strategic partnership.” Chinese President Xi Jinpin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian adopted a joint statement to that effect when they met in Tianjin at the weekend.
Like Azerbaijan, Armenia currently has the status of a “dialogue partner” in the SCO granted to it in 2016.