Beijing – SANA – The 25th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opened Sunday in the Chinese city of Tianjin, with the participation of representatives from more than 20 countries and leaders of 10 international organizations.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with several leaders, including Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, stressing China’s support for their accession to the organization.
President Xi also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, affirming that China and India are “partners in cooperation” and represent mutual opportunities for development.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Tianjin to join the summit, which also welcomed UN Secretary-General António Guterres along with representatives of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, ASEAN, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the League of Arab States.
At the conclusion of the summit, leaders are expected to adopt more than 20 key documents, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Development Strategy until 2035 and the “Tianjin Declaration.”
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 in Shanghai, China, at the initiative of leaders of six Asian countries: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the organization in 2017, while 14 other countries have the status of “dialogue partners”, including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Khadega/BA
