SCO leaders to discuss ways of improving organization’s activities in Qingdao - Kremlin

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. The leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member-countries will discuss economic cooperation, humanitarian and security ties and ways of improving the organization’s activities at the June 10 summit in Qingdao, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Monday. "It is planned to discuss specific steps, apparently, those aimed at improving the SCO’s work and development of cooperation in priority areas. These include security, economy, the humanitarian sphere, and, naturally, the leaders will address the key regional issues as usual within the SCO framework - these are Afghanistan and the Middle East," Ushakov said. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech at the summit, will outline Russia’s stance on the tasks facing the SCO, will focus on countering terrorism and resolving regional conflicts. Apart from that, during the summit Russia will reaffirm its opinion on the need to set up a universal center to counter new challenges and threats on the basis of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure. After the meeting, the leaders of the SCO member-countries will be joined by representatives of observer states, a plenary SCO meeting is expected to be held. Delegations from Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia will be present among the observer states, the leader of Turkmenistan has been invited as well. "[The participants in] the plenary meeting are expected to discuss issues related to economic cooperation, particularly in trade, investment, transport, the energy sector, agriculture, the development of joint infrastructure projects, the rapprochement of national development strategies and countries’ coordination in the implementation of trade and economic programs," Ushakov explained. This year, the SCO summit will be attended for the first time to two new member-states, that is, India and Pakistan. The organization’s member-countries also include Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Four countries - Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan and Belarus - have observer status, while six more nations have dialogue partner status. These are Sri Lanka, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal. The summit’s main final document will be the Qingdao Declaration, which will reflect the coordinated approaches towards further development of the SCO’s activities. Read more