SCO summit kicks off in Tianjin

The 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) opened Monday in China's Tianjin city with President Xi Jinping delivering the opening address.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is accompanied at the summit by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchxiuk, Deputy Chief of Staff Maxim Oreshkin, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov, Russian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China Igor Morgulov, and Presidential Special Representative for SCO Affairs Bakhtiyor Khakimov.

The heads of state and government of more than 20 countries will participate in the SCO summit. In addition to Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, these are President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Earlier, Ushakov said the SCO leaders will agree on the creation of a universal center for countering security challenges and threats and an anti-drug center.

The summit will end with the signing of the Tianjin Declaration on Approaches to Pressing Regional and International Issues and the SCO Development Strategy until 2035.

The 'SCO Plus' meeting is also planned, it will be attended by the SCO leaders, including President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, as well as the leaders of 10 international organisations, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres.