Chinese president says confident SCO summit in July will help strengthen security

BEIJING, April 23. /TASS/. China’s President Xi Jinping said on Monday he is convinced that a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in China’s Qingdao in June will make a serious contribution to the development of multilateral cooperation and will help enhance regional security. "The summit will give a fresh impetus to the development of the SCO, to strengthening of security and stability in the region," he said at a meeting with heads of SCO military delegations. The organization, in his words, has made a "huge contribution to enhancing regional security." He said that the SCO’s role on the global arena has been increasing. The Russia delegation is led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who will take part in a meeting of the SCO defense ministers on Tuesday. Shoigu’s press secretary, Rossiyana Markovskaya, said earlier that the defense ministers from Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were expected to exchange views on current issues of international and regional security. "They will discuss joint measures to consolidate efforts to promptly react to new challenges and threats in the SCO’s zone of responsibility," she said. "Apart from that, they will sum up the results of military cooperation throughout past year and look at promising areas of defense cooperation within the organization." Read more