The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is not delaying the issue of Azerbaijan and Armenia's membership; their accession requires consensus.

Axar.az reports that this was stated in an interview with TASS by Rashid Alimov, the former Secretary General of the SCO (2016-2018).

“The procedure for accepting new member states is clearly defined and has been tested many times. The admission decision is made by consensus. In the entire history of the SCO, not a single application has been rejected. Each of them is carefully considered on an individual basis. From the outside, it may seem that the process is dragging on. But this is not the case,” he said.