Khawaja Asif to attend foreign ministers' meeting in Beijing
Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting will be attended by the foreign ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India
April 19, 2018
BEIJING: Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting that will be held in Beijing on April 2, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Wednesday.
Chunying said the meeting that would be chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be attended by the foreign ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India as well as the secretary-general of the SCO, Rashid Alimov, and director of the Executive Committee of SCO Regional Anti Terrorist Structure.
“All parties will exchange views on SCO cooperation and major regional and international issues” she added.
She further said that the foreign ministers' meeting will be the first one after the expansion of SCO, which is meant to lay a groundwork for the SCO Qingdao Summit in June. During the meeting, the Chinese leadership will also conduct group sessions with heads of the delegations.
She remarked that the foreign ministers will exchange views on all-round cooperation and important international and regional issues. He will witness the signing of the outcome documents and issue a press release based on the consensus of the meeting.
“We believe that all sides will pick the opportunity of the meeting to build on consensus, reach more cooperation measures into the success of Qingdao summit and move forward the SCO,” she said.
Chunying also believes that the summit will achieve fruitful results and promote greater development of the SCO.
The upcoming SCO summit will be held in June this year in Qingdao city of Shandong province in China.
Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain is expected to attend this summit while meeting of the defence ministers of SCO members countries is also scheduled for this month, where Khurram Dastgir Khan will lead the Pakistani delegation.
Chiefs of Defence Staff meeting and a working-level meeting on drug control in the SCO member states will also be held this year.
