Putin to meet national security chiefs of SCO member countries

MOSCOW, April 13 /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Monday meet the secretaries of Security Councils of countries that are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) or have the status of observers. "The meeting will take place on the eve of the upcoming 10th anniversary of the annual meeting of SCO Security Council secretaries to discuss issues related to security in the SCO territory," the Kremlin press service said. By tradition, the head of a country presiding over the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is expected to receive the Security Council secretaries ahead of a meeting of the Council of the SCO heads of state. This time, representatives of observer countries - Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan and Belarus - will take part in such an event for the first time, the Kremlin press service went on to say. The previous meetings between the Russian president and the secretaries of Security Councils of the SCO member states took place on May 20, 2009. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001. As for today, it comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The SCO summit due to take place in Ufa, the Republic of Bashkortostan (Russia), on July 8-10 is expected to adopt a comprehensive programme of the organization’s development up to 2025. The document will set the objectives, which the SCO is supposed to meet by the set deadline. Read more