Beijing, August 31 /BNA/ – The 25th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) kicked off today, Sunday, in the Chinese city of Tianjin, lasting for two days.

The summit sees participation from heads of state and government of more than 20 countries, including China’s President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The organization invited heads of 10 international organizations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Arab League, and other blocs.

At the conclusion of the summit, leaders are expected to adopt more than 20 documents, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s development strategy until 2035 and the “Tianjin Declaration,” according to BRICS TV network.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an international organization established in 2001, with member states including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (since 2001), India and Pakistan (since 2017), Iran (since 2023), and Belarus (since 2024). The member states represent more than 40% of the world’s population and over 30% of the global GDP.