Sitting of SCO Council of Foreign Ministers kicks off in Beijing

The meeting is one of the final stages of preparations for the SCO Summit in Qingdao ahead.  

Foreign ministers of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov, of Kyrgyzstan Erlan Abdyldayev, of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov, of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Aslov, of Russia Sergei Lavrov, of India Sushma Swaraj, of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif and SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov attend the meeting, under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi.

Those gathered are expected to focus on harmonization of documents and decisions that will be submitted for consideration of the heads of state. Currently the agenda includes above 20 projects, as well as the Qingdao Declaration to reflect joint approaches to deepening SCO cooperation and Action Plan for 2018-2022 on realization of the Agreement on Long-term Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO member states.

SCO foreign ministers are also to debate further coordination of positions on issues such as situation in Syria and Afghanistan, situation in the Korean Peninsula and fulfillment of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (Iranian nuclear deal).



The ministers are supposed to discuss development of SCO ties with international and regional organizations such as UNESCO, ASEAN, others.

On Monday, China's President Xi Jinping received foreign ministers who arrived to take part in the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).