Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will host the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) via video link on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said here on Monday.
Launched in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has eight full members, including its six founding members, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017.
Premier Li, who is set to retire early next year following the major reshuffle of officials following the recent once-in-a-five-year congress of the ruling Communist Party of China, will host the meeting via video link. According to officials, India will be represented by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the online meeting.
The SCO heads of the state held their first in-person summit after two years at Samarkand in Uzbekistan last month which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.