The two-day summit, attended by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other SCO leaders, approved the Memorandum of Obligations to admit new full-fledged members to the Organisation.

"I think the present members of the SCO have framed certain rules and those countries who are right now Observers, their application would be processed and I am very optimistic that India will find an affirmative response from the SCO," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told reporters accompanying him to Kazakhstan for the SCO summit.

The SCO comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan are observers at the SCO.

Krishna said the SCO membership would further strengthen India''s linkages with Central Asia with whom it enjoys age-old cultural and trade relations.

Making an intervention at the SCO summit, Krishna sought a "larger and deeper" role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), saying it would like to bring to the table its technical expertise, markets and financial commitment. "Ten years since its founding, the SCO faces a historic moment. Like other successful multilateral organisations, it must choose the path of its evolution," he said.