Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The 25th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) opened on Monday in northern China with President Xi Jinping delivering the opening address.
SCO, comprising China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus, is touted as a non-Western style of collaboration that seeks to be an alternative to traditional alliances.
Opening the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China will work with all parties in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to take the regional security forum to a new level, unveiling his ambition for a new global security order.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation has set a model for a new type of international relations, Xi said in his remarks addressing more than 20 world leaders at a two-day summit held in northern China’s Tianjin, adding that the forum unequivocally opposed external interference.
He pledged 2 billion yuan (280.4 million USD) in grants to member states of the SCO within this year.
He said China will also issue an additional 10 billion yuan (1.4 billion USD) in loans to the member banks of the SCO Interbank Consortium over the next three years.
Ahead of delivering their national statements, the leaders of the 10-member bloc, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, stood for a family photo in Tianjin City, TV footage showed.
At the end of the summit, they are expected to sign the Tianjin Declaration and approve a 10-year strategy alongside outcome documents on security, trade, energy and cultural cooperation.
The summit will also issue statements on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the founding of the UN.
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