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ANKARA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will chair the Energy Club of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017, becoming the first non-SCO country to hold its term presidency, Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday.
According to Turkish Energy Ministry officials, Ankara's proposal for non-SCO member countries to assume the term presidency of the Energy Club was accepted in a meeting on Tuesday, and Turkey was elected to chair the Energy Club in 2017.
Earlier, only members of the SCO had assumed the term presidency of the Energy Club in turn.
Turkish Energy Ministry will be the general secretary of the Energy Club for one year.
The SCO Energy Club aims to deepen energy cooperation among member states, in addition to bolstering energy security and updating energy strategies.
Apart from SCO's original members, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Belarus and Sri Lanka are the members of the SCO Energy Club.
Turkey is currently a dialogue partner of the SCO. Established in 2001, SCO is a regional political, economic and security organization that groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members.
