DUSHANBE, August 15, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon today morning left for Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to take part at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that will begin early on August 16, presidential press service said.
The presidents of member nations of the SCO are supposed to set new tasks for stronger partnership at the Bishkek summit, according to the source.
Today, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is receiving participants in the SCO summit – Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. SCO observers – presidents of Iran and Mongolia, the Pakistani foreign minister and the Indian minister of oil and gas will also attend. Presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan and the UN Deputy Secretary General Lynn Pasco are visiting the summit as guests of honor.
According to Kyrgyzstan’s news agency AKIPress, an informal meeting of leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is being held in Bishkek today.
According to some media, the key document to be signed at the summit is a treaty on long-term good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation of the SCO member-states. The fixed provisions are aimed at giving an additional impetus to deeper partnership relations in compliance with “the Shanghai spirit”, the principles of equality and mutual respect and in the interests of all partners.
