Pakistani PM to attend SCO summit in Russia

November 1st, 2011 - 5:12 am ICT by IANS  

Yousuf Raza Gilani Islamabad, Nov 1 (IANS) Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held in Russia next week.

Gilani will attend the Council of Heads of Government of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Member States session in St. Petersburg Nov 7, Xinhua quoted an official announcement from the Pakistan prime minister’s office as stating Monday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has invited Gilani to the summit.

The summit is scheduled to discuss at the session issues of coordination among the countries amid acute problems faced nowadays by the world economy, to determine further steps aimed at developing trade, economic and humanitarian ties between the SCO member states, observers and other regional partners, it said.

The SCO, an inter-governmental mutual-security organisation, was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan has the status of observer along with India, Iran and Mongolia.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said the country was desirous of becoming a full member of this forum on account of its immense potential for dealing with common challenges.

The SCO deals with issues of common regional concern, including regional trade, connectivity, energy cooperation, security-related collaboration, drug-trafficking as well as extremism and terrorism.

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