A two-day summit of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) chaired by Kazakhstan has started in Astana. This was reported by the official SCO website. The summit is take-ing place on July 3-4, 2024.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001 based on the "Shanghai Five" (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), expanded with the addition of Uzbekistan and now includes India, Pakistan, and Iran.
At this summit, Belarus will officially participate, becoming the 10th member of the organization.
The novelty of the summit lies in holding two multilateral meetings – the main SCO summit and the expanded SCO-plus summit.
The leaders of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Qatar, and the UAE will participate in the SCO-plus meeting. Heads of 16 states, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have arrived for the summit.
Meetings between Putin, Xi Jinping, and Erdogan are expected.
The SCO Secretary General, Chinese diplomat Zhang Ming, is organizing the forum's work, which will also be attended by UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that the summit would be dedicated to strengthening multilateral dialogue, striving for sustainable peace, and development.
After the summit, the chairmanship of the SCO will pass to China, which plans to focus on the development of transport corridors and the climate agenda related to the Belt and Road Initiative.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
July 3, 2024