SCO grants Sri Lanka 'dialogue partner' status

Sri Lanka and Belarus have been granted the status of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) dialogue partner, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the end of the two-day summit of the regional grouping today. The SCO hailed the end of 'internal armed conflict' in Sri Lanka, even as it hoped that all the ethnic groups will be given equal rights for a lasting peace in the country.