Web Desk
October 16, 2024
Pakistan on Wednesday marked a notable achievement on the diplomatic front as it hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairing the meeting attended by various world leaders in Islamabad.
The summit is the highest-profile event hosted by the country in years with leaders from 10 countries in attendance at the federal capital’s Jinnah Convention Centre.
The leaders from the SCO member states attending the summit include China’s Premier of the State Council Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Kyrgyzstan’s Chairman of Ministers’ Cabinet Zhaparov Akylbek, and Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s participation at the event was a major highlight, marking the first such visit by an Indian FM in almost a decade amid frosty relations between the two nuclear powers.
Meanwhile, observer state Mongolia is represented by Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and Turkmenistan by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Rashid Meredov as the special guest.
Formed in 2001, the Eurasian security and political group claims to represent 40% of the world’s population and about 30% of its GDP, but its members have diverse political systems and even open disagreements with one another.
