PM Shehbaz to attend SCO summit in Astana, begins today

ASTANA, Kazakhstan: A two-day summit of the nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will begin here on Wednesday (today).

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reached Kazakhstan to represent Pakistan in the summit.

Shehbaz Sharif will address the summit and hold separate meetings with Russian and Chinese presidents.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have arrived to attend the meeting of Shanghai alliance nations in Astana was received by Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra not attending the SCO summit and will be represented by Foreign Minister Jaishankar.

The nine-member SCO, encompasses a vast stretch of the globe from Moscow to Beijing, includes around half the world’s population.

Its permanent members are this year’s host Kazakhstan, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

This year, Belarus is expected to join after being told at 2023’s SCO summit, hosted virtually by India, that it would become a member.

“Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Tuesday for the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and a state visit to Kazakhstan,” state news agency Xinhua reported from Astana.