Xi Jinping arrives in Kyrgyzstan to attend SCO summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday to participate in the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which will also be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders from the member countries.

“I look forward to attending the SCO Bishkek Summit, working with all parties to revisit the 25-year development experience of the SCO, jointly discuss cooperation plans, create the future of the organisation,” Xi said on his arrival, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi said he looked forward to working with all parties to “promote the continuous new development of the organisation”. On the sidelines of the summit, to be held from August 31 to September 1, Xi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with several other SCO leaders. The SCO member states include Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and China. September is expected to be a busy month for Xi, who is widely expected to attend the BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12-13 and later travel to the US for a summit meeting with President Donald Trump.

Ahead of the BRICS summit, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held the 25th Special Representatives (SRs) mechanism meeting on the boundary question in Beijing on Tuesday.

Both countries reached an eight-point consensus and agreed to advance discussions on an “Early and Substantial Harvest” of boundary delimitation and border management. The SRs mechanism is regarded as a key body aimed at comprehensively addressing the dispute over the India-China border spanning 3,488 km, besides recurring tensions over a host of bilateral issues.