SCO Summit Kicks Off In Bishkek; PM Imran Joins Regional Leaders

Umer Jamshaid Published June 14, 2019 | 01:13 PM

The 19th Meeting of the Council of the Heads of State (CHS) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Friday started in Bishkek with leadership from all member and observer states in attendance

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2019 ) :The 19th Meeting of the Council of the Heads of State (CHS) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Friday started in Bishkek with leadership from all member and observer states in attendance.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov is chairing the session who earlier received all the participating leaders including Prime Minister Imran Khan as they arrived at the venue.

Prior to proceeding for the meeting, the leaders had a group photo with the banner of the SCO Summit in the backdrop.

The leaders of India, Kazakhstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are taking part in the SCO Summit as permanent members of the organization. The presidents of Belarus, Afghanistan, Iran and Mongolia arrived as observer countries.

President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Russia President Vladimir Putin, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Joomart Tokayev, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga and President of Afghanistan Ashraf Gani are attending the summit.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo, Acting Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Valery Semerikov, Chairman of the Commonwealth of Independent States Executive Committee Sergey Lebedev, and Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan are also attending the international event.

The session is being held in both wide and narrow formats.

Earlier, in a formal session, the leaders held talks in a narrow format who were later joined by the leaders from observer states in the expanded format.

The prime minister is attending the summit at the invitation of Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov.

The Council of Heads of State is the highest forum of SCO which considers and defines strategy, prospects and priorities of the Organization.