DUSHANBE, August 8, 2014, Asia-Plus — President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, President Hassan Rouhani of the Islamic Republic of Iran and President Almaz Atambayev of the Kyrgyz Republic are scheduled to pay official visits to Tajikistan in September this year, a well-informed source told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon.
According to him, they will pay visits on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that will take place in the Tajik capital from September 11-12.
The visits are expected to result in signing of a number of cooperation agreements.
China and Kyrgyzstan are full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization while Iran has the status of observer state.
Founded by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on June 15, 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.
The Organization currently has six full members — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India are four observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
“Delegations of the SCO member nations will be led by heads of state. A Pakistani delegation will be led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” said the source. “Meanwhile, Afghanistan, India and Mongolia have not yet decided on their delegations.”
