Chinese premier to attend SCO meeting, eyeing enhanced cooperation amid COVID-19

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the 19th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing next Monday, a foreign ministry spokesperson announced here Thursday.

The meeting, with India as the host country, will be held via video link, spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily press briefing when asked to comment on China's expectations for the meeting.

Hailing SCO's sound development momentum since its founding 19 years ago, Zhao said it has successfully blazed a path of cooperation and development for a new type of regional organization.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic along with shifts unseen in a century as well as substantial changes in international and regional landscapes, Zhao said SCO has even more important missions to accomplish in safeguarding regional security and stability and promoting development and prosperity of member countries.

He noted that the SCO summit held virtually not long ago achieved good results, laying out a blueprint and charting the course for the organization's development in the next stage.

Calling the upcoming meeting an important event under the SCO framework this year, Zhao said the premier will communicate with leaders of other attending countries on deepening SCO cooperation to rally broader consensus on cooperation.

The leaders will work out more practical measures to better synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with the development strategies of SCO member countries and regional cooperation initiatives, in order to enhance cooperation in economy, trade, investment, production capacity and interconnectivity, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Zhao said.

This will boost economic recovery and improve people's livelihood in member states, and promote faster and better development of the SCO, he added. Enditem