SCO Coordinators To Discuss 2020 Summit Preparations At Next Week's Meeting- Russian Envoy

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2019) National coordinators from member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will meet next week in Moscow to discuss preparations for the 2020 SCO summit, Russian President's Special Envoy to the SCO Bakhtier Khakimov said.

Originally, the SCO summit was scheduled to take place in Russia's central city of Chelyabinsk, alongside the BRICS summit. However, in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the two summits would be moved to St. Petersburg due to the high number of attendees that are expected to attend the event and Chelyabinsk's projected inability to accommodate all of them.

"Next week, the national coordinators for the SCO member states will meet in Moscow ... I am confident that, through joint efforts, we will launch active preparations for another [SCO] summit due to take place next year in July," Khakimov said.

Russia assumed chairmanship of the SCO in June. The SCO, established in 2001, initially included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as permanent members. India and Pakistan were each granted full-member status of the organization in June 2017. The group's key goals include cooperation in the areas of international security and counterterrorism.