Samarkand, 15 September 2022 (TDI): Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif has arrived at Samarkand International Airport, Uzbekistan with a high-level delegation. The state channel; Pakistan Television is broadcasting his arrival live.
Prime Minister Of Uzbekistan; Abdulla Aripov, Minister of Public Education Uzbekistan; Bakhtiyor Saidov, Governor Samarkand; Erkinjon Turdimov, Deputy Foreign Minister Uzbekistan; Gayrat Fozilov, Uzbek Ambassador to Pakistan; Aybek Arif Usmanov and senior officials welcomed the Pakistani delegation.
He is on a two-day visit to Uzbekistan on September 15-16 to attend the annual meeting of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
PM @CMShehbaz accompanied by FM @BBhuttoZardari will be attending the annual Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
📍 Samarkand, Uzbekistan
🗓 15-16 September 2022#PakPMatSCO pic.twitter.com/VrevNRfSki
— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) September 14, 2022
SCO Summit 2022
The SCO Summit in 2022 is being hosted in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Samarkand is known to be on the old Silk Road trade route that connects China to the Mediterranean.
The SCO summit in Uzbekistan would focus on assessing the organization’s operations over the last two decades and identifying areas where multilateral collaboration could be beneficial.
The talks would also include the geopolitical situation in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the situation in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
It is noteworthy that this is the first in-person summit since the SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in 2019. The 22nd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State will be attended by leaders of SCO member states.
Moreover, the Observer states, the SCO Secretary General, the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), the President of Turkmenistan as well as others will attend.
In addition, Iran is scheduled to be formally admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization during the conference.
It is pertinent to note that following the Samarkand Summit, India will assume the SCO presidency. India will preside over the SCO till September 2023. It will host the SCO summit the following year.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization: An Overview
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a political, economic, and security organization in Eurasia.
It is the world’s largest regional organization in terms of geographic breadth and population, covering around 60% of Eurasia, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of the global GDP.
The Shanghai Five, a mutual security pact founded in 1996 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, is the successor of the SCO.
The leaders of these countries plus Uzbekistan gathered in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, to announce a new organization with closer political and economic cooperation; the SCO Charter was signed on July 7, 2002, and entered into force on September 19, 2003.
It has since grown to eight members, with India and Pakistan joining on June 9, 2017. Several countries have agreed to participate as observers or discussion partners.
The SCO is managed by its top decision-making body, the Heads of State Council (HSC), which meets once a year.
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