Beijing, 13 September 2022 (TDI): Chinese President, Xi Jinping, will attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Head of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 14th to 16th September 2022.
Chinese president to attend SCO summit, visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan https://t.co/B8FRaaIhMF pic.twitter.com/tWp41FOqQl
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) September 12, 2022
President Xi Jinping’s upcoming Central Asia trip will give a major boost to China’s bonds with its neighbors there, catalyze two-way, pragmatic cooperation and promote the unity and efficacy of the 21-year-old SCO, observers said. #XiJinping https://t.co/QBLPLcf0Is pic.twitter.com/b74o3tx1Tx
— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) September 13, 2022
On Monday, the Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of China, Hua Chunying, officially announced the visit of the Chinese President to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to attend the SCO Summit. This will be the first foreign visit of the Chinese President after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, the Spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry also added that the visit is taking place at the invitation of two Presidents: the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Chinese President will first visit Kazakhstan on 14th September which will mark the first foreign visit of the President since January 2020. The last foreign visit was to Myanmar on 17th January 2020. Just days after the return of President Xi from Myanmar, the country announced the official outbreak of the virus which eventually spread into the pandemic.
From Kazakhstan on 14th September, the Chinese President will visit neighbouring Uzbekistan where the 22nd meeting of the Council of the Head of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is scheduled to take place from 15th to 16th September.
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Council of Head of States
The Council of Heads of State is the supreme body of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Council meets once a year to determine important areas of the activities of the organization and to define the priorities of the organisation.
In June 2001, the organization was launched in the Chinese city of Shanghai. Currently, the organization has eight full members with six founding members. The six founding members include China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Whereas, the two other members which joined later in 2017 include Pakistan and India.
Addressing the 21st meeting of the Council of Heads of State online in 2021, President Xi urged the SCO members to uphold common security, integration, solidarity and openness to forge a closer SCO community with a shared future.
