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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to chair today (Wednesday) the 23rd summit of the Council of the Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners”.
Pakistan became a full member of the SCO at its 2017 summit in Kazakhstan, which was attended by ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, who recently also expressed hope for reviving ties with India.
As the current Chair of the Council of the Heads of Government (CHG), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will preside over the summit.
Leaders from SCO member states arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday for the SCO meeting, where discussions will center around trade, economic cooperation, and regional connectivity within the Eurasian political and security bloc.
The summit will approve the organisation’s budget and address key issues related to economic collaboration among member states.
The meeting is being attended by the heads of government of eight member states, while Iran and India will be represented by their trade and external affairs ministers, respectively, after Iranian first vice president Mohammad Reza Aref had to pull out at the last minute due to the evolving regional situation requiring his presence in Tehran.
From China, Premier Li Qiang will be attending the summit, with his Monday visit to Pakistan being the first by a Chinese premier in 11 years.
Mongolia is participating as an observer state, and Turkmenistan has been invited as a special guest.
Representatives from international organisations, including the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the European Economic Community, are also attending the event.
Expected programme today
A flurry of activities is planned for throughout the day, with the summit proceedings expected in the morning.
According to the programme, the participants will arrive on Wednesday morning at the Jinnah Convention Centre, where they will be received by PM Shehbaz.
After group photos, PM Shehbaz will give his opening remarks, which are set to be followed by statements from other member states. A notable agenda of the day is “documents signing” before the prime minister offers the concluding remarks.
In the afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming will brief the media about the highlights of the summit. This would be followed by “official luncheons” by PM Shehbaz.
First day of the summit
On Tuesday, the first day of the two-day SCO summit, heads and delegates of various SCO member states continued to arrive.
Those arriving included Russia’s PM Mikhail Mishustin, Tajikistan’s PM Qohir Rasulzoda, Kazakhstan’s PM Olzhas Bektenov and Belarus’ PM Roman Golovchenko, as well as Turkmenistan’s foreign minister Rashid Meredov.
PM Shehbaz also held bilateral meetings with the leaders representing Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkmenistan.
In the evening, the prime minister hosted a welcome dinner for the dignitaries from various member states, where footage showed him welcoming and shaking hands with them.
Among the guests was India’s Minister for External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, with whom PM Shehbaz also had a brief exchange.
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