DUSHANBE, June 30, 2015, Asia-Plus – Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will attend summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) that will take place in the city of Ufa, the capital of Russia’s Boshkortostan Republic, from July 9-11, an official source in Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
On the sidelines of the SCO summit, Rahmon is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Boshkortosotan’s President Rustem Khamidov.
President Rahmon will also attend the 7th BRICS summit that will be the next annual summit of the heads of state or government of the BRICS member states.
While in Ufa, Emomali Rahmon is also scheduled to hold a meeting with representatives of Tajik Diaspora in Boshkortostan, the source said.
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.
The Organization’s six full members account for 60% of the land mass of Eurasia and its population is a quarter of the world”s population. With observer states included, its affiliates account for about half of the world”s population.
BRICS is the acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping was originally known as “BRIC” before the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. The BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs; all five are G-20 members. Since 2010, the BRICS nations have met annually at formal summits. Russia currently holds the chair of the BRICS group, and will host the group”s seventh summit in July 2015.
