Xi urges China, Russia to maintain high-level coordination within SCO

China and Russia should continue to maintain their high-level strategic coordination within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Wednesday.

Xi made the remarks during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

The two countries, Xi said, should jointly direct relevant mechanisms to deepen cooperation, take effective measures in tackling such challenges as terrorism and drug trafficking and maintain regional security, so as to enable the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding the common interests of all countries in the region.

Xi suggested the two sides take the SCO as an important platform to dovetail China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with Russia's aspiration under the Eurasian Economic Union framework, expand room for their practical cooperation and facilitate development, cooperation and prosperity of the whole Eurasian continent.

The latest Xi-Putin meeting came ahead of the seventh BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit and the 15th meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council. It is their second meeting in the past two months alone.

Xi arrived in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan Republic, earlier Wednesday to attend the two upcoming multilateral gatherings. Endi