SCO summit opens in Bishkek
BISHKEK. June 14 (Interfax) - A summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opened in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Friday.
Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov greeted the heads of the SCO countries' delegations arriving at the Ala Archa State Residence.
The SCO includes India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia have observer status in this organization.
As usual, upon arrival the participants first posed for a photo and then proceeded into the conference hall.
According to the program of the event, the leaders of the SCO states will first hold a narrow-format meeting, to be followed by a session in the presence of the heads of the SCO observer countries' delegations and senior officials of a number of international organizations, including the UN under-secretary-general, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the acting secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and the chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will address both the narrow-format meeting and the expanded session.