The Peace Mission 2009 joint drill with the involvement of 10 thousand troops will be conducted in Otar range in Kazakhstan, the Central Asian republic’s defence ministry was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.

SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, while India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have Observer status in the organisation.

Manmohan Singh became the first Indian Prime Minister to attend an SCO summit held recently in Yekaterinburg and expressed New Delhi’s regards for Moscow’s efforts to grant greater role to observer nations in the organisation.