Leaders of 17 countries, UN secretary-general to attend SCO summit in Bishkek

BISHKEK, August 29. /TASS/. Leaders of 17 countries and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz presidential press service said.

According to the press service, in addition to the leaders of the organization’s member states - Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - t he meeting will be attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Togolese Prime Minister Faure Gnassingbe, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith, Vietnamese Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, and Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Issa.

International organizations will be represented by SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Ularbek Sharsheyev, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Bakytzhan Sagintayev, and Secretary-General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia Kairat Sarybay.

The statement said the participants will discuss current issues on the international and regional agenda, priorities for the SCO’s further development, as well as prospects for deepening cooperation in the political, trade and economic, transport and logistics, digital, environmental, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The summit will conclude with the signing of a declaration marking the organization’s 25th anniversary, as well as documents and decisions aimed at further strengthening multifaceted cooperation and improving its activities. The heads of state will also "adopt a number of thematic statements."

At the expanded SCO Plus summit, participants will exchange views on "strengthening the central coordinating role of the UN and international law, as well as promoting sustainable development and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation," the press service said.

The summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be held in Bishkek from August 31 to September 1.