Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to be held in Bishkek
The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation will be held on 9 and 10 September in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a meeting that Afghanistan has still been barred from attending since the Taliban administration returned to power.
The leaders of member states are set to discuss political, security, economic and regional and international issues at the upcoming summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend.
Yury Ushakov, the Russian president’s aide, said Putin will be in Kyrgyzstan from 9 to 10 September and will take part in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation now has 10 members: Russia, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan and Mongolia hold observer status, and 15 other countries are dialogue partners of the organisation.
Representatives from several guest countries and international bodies, including the United Nations, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States, will also attend the summit.
However, since the Taliban administration came to power, no representative from Afghanistan has been invited to the organisation’s meetings. In contrast, Mongolia’s representative, as an observer state, has attended these meetings in recent years.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a regional body focused on security, political and economic cooperation among its members, and its summits are usually held with the participation of senior officials from member and observer states.
