Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev the preparations for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit to be held in Samarkand in September, the Kremlin press service said on Monday following the conversation between the two leaders.
"They continue to discuss issues of further development of Russian-Uzbek cooperation, as well as preparations for the upcoming September summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand," the statement said.
The previous conversation between the two presidents was held last week, on August 16. Then, Putin and Mirziyoyev also discussed preparations for the SCO summit. The Kremlin press service reported that "in this context, the high international prestige of the SCO and the growing contribution of the organization to strengthening regional stability and security were noted." In addition, the Russian head of state and his Uzbek counterpart discussed the further development of strategic partnership and alliance of the two countries.
The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, founded in 2001, include India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia; the partner countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka. The SCO summit in Samarkand, scheduled for mid-September, is expected to finalize Iran's admission and grant dialogue partner status to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Belarus's application to join the SCO as a full member is also under study.
