MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kazakhstan for regional security and defence talks, the Kremlin said, as well as a series of bilateral meetings, including with Turkish and Chinese leaders.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a forum set up by Russia and China in 2001 as a guardian of security in the Eurasia region, will meet for their summit on July 3-4 in Astana.
In a statement, the Kremlin said that the leaders of the SCO member nations will discuss the present state and prospects for further deepening cooperation within the organization and enhancing its activities.
While the summit is expected to be dominated by China and Russia, leaders or representatives of Belarus, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Qatar, Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, are also likely to attend.
United Nation chief Antonio Guterres, is also expected to attend the SCO summit.
Moscow said President Putin will hold sperate meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Tayyip Erdogan. Earlier, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also attend the SCO summit in Astana.
The summit will also focus on a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel killed thousands of innocent Palestinians since a new round of conflict started last October.
According to Turkish media outlets t Erdogan’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the summit will focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Israel’s attacks on Gaza, the situation in Syria as well as a planned natural gas hub in Türkiye.
