BEIJING, April 18 (APP):Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif will attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held here on April 24 and exchange views on the SCO cooperation and regional and international issues.
Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi will chair the meeting which is meant to lay a groundwork for the SCO Qingdao Summit scheduled to be held in June, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson, Hua Chunying said during her regular press briefing held here on Wednesday.
She informed that the foreign ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and India, as well as the secretary-general of the SCO and director of the Executive Committee of SCO Regional Counter Terrorism Structure, will also participate in the meeting.
The spokesperson said all the parties will exchange views on the SCO cooperation and major regional and international issues. Besides, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan will also conduct visits to China.
Hua said this foreign ministers meeting will be the first one after the enlargement of the SCO which is meant to lay a groundwork for the SCO Qingdao Summit to be held in June this year.
During the meeting, the Chinese leadership will have a group meeting with the heads of the delegations, she added.
She informed that the foreign ministers will exchange views on all-round cooperation and important international and regional issues.
“Foreign Minister Wang Yi will witness the signing of the outcome documents” and a press release based on a consensus of the meeting will be issued.
“We believe that all sides will pick the opportunity of the meeting to build on consensus, reach more cooperation measures into the success of the Qingdao summit and move forward the SCO,” she added.
The SCO summit will be held in Qingdao, a port city, and a famous tourist spot in China in June this year. As the rotating president of the SCO, China will host this year’s summit.
President, Mamnoon Hussain is likely to lead the delegation from Pakistan during the summit.
The SCO, an inter-governmental organization, was founded in China’s Shanghai on June 15, 2001, is composed of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, and Pakistan.
India and Pakistan were admitted as full members of the organization at the summit in Astana last year.