Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping will participate in the online summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be hosted by India next week. This information was given in an official announcement on Friday. At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will participate in the 23rd SCO Council of Heads of State meeting via video conference on July 4, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press release.
This is the first official announcement about Xi’s participation in the SCO summit to be hosted by India. India being the current chair of SCO is hosting the summit. The SCO is an influential economic and security organization that has emerged as one of the largest interregional international organizations.
The SCO was founded in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar inaugurated the ‘New Delhi Bhavan’ at the SCO Secretariat here on Tuesday and termed it as a “mini India”, saying it would develop a better understanding of the country’s culture.
He said, “To introduce you to the artistic tradition and cultural identity of India, the building has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural prowess of all over India.” The SCO summit was held last year in the Uzbek city of Samarkand and was attended by all the top leaders of the organization, including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. India will also host the G20 summit in September, for which it is going to invite other leaders of the grouping apart from Xi and Putin.
