Putin, foreign ministers to talk preparations for SCO summit in Russia’s Ufa

MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Wednesday, the Kremlin press service has said. "At the meeting, the key issues of the SCO activity will be discussed in the light of Russia’s presidency in the organisation in 2014-2015 and also the preparations for the meeting of the Council of Heads of SCO member-states on July 9-10 in Ufa," the statement said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday’s meeting will be held as part of Russia’s presidency in the SCO. "This is an ordinary event for the presidency," Peskov explained. The Council of Foreign Ministers' Meeting will be also held in Moscow on Wednesday. In April, President Putin held a similar meeting in the Russian capital with the secretaries of security councils of the member-states and observer states of the Shanghai Group. Russia took over the presidency in the SCO for a year after its 14th summit in September last year in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The SCO summit will be held in Russia’s Ufa on July 9-10 shortly after the heads of BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will meet there. During the question and answer session, also known as the Direct Line, in mid-April, Putin said these are not military organizations but Russia’s friends with which "we are working very closely and are developing our relations." One of the most important issues on the SCO summit agenda will be the approval of a new key document - the strategy of the group’s development up to 2025. "We expect the adoption of important decisions on launching a process of the SCO expansion," Putin said in late May. Currently, members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was officially founded in 2001, are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan enjoy the observer status. In September 2014, Pakistan and India officially applied for full-fledged membership in the organization. Iran also seeks such membership. Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey have a status of a dialogue partner. Read more