China hoped that President Pervez Musharraf will attend the summit of Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) that is scheduled to take place in Shanghai in June.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Jianchao, told reporters at weekly news briefing here on Tuesday that China, being a host country, has invited state leaders from the member and observer countries of the SCO to attend the summit.
It would be an important meeting of the State leaders to open new avenues of co-operation at the regional level, promoting peace and stability, economic co-operation and personal exchanges.
China, he added, is prepared to facilitate the participating countries to make the summit successful.
Diplomatic sources told APP that Pakistan has already conveyed to Chinese leadership its resolve to play an active role in the SCO in tackling common problems and achieving its socio-economic goals.
Pakistan that currently enjoys an observer status in the organisation was looking forward to attaining its full membership. The matter came under discussion during the recent meeting held in Beijing between President Musharraf and the SCO Secretary-General Zhang Deguang.
In an interview, the SCO secretary-general said that all member-states of the organisation attach great importance to Pakistan, and wished to develop close interaction in all areas of common interest. There is a large space and good prospects for co-operation between the two sides, he added.
Zhang also said he was looking forward to having a follow-up meeting with President Musharraf at the Shanghai summit.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui said recently that the Shanghai summit would give a strong impetus to the all-round development of the SCO and further expand the organisation's influence among the international community. The Chinese side, which is currently holding the presidency, has begun full-scale preparations for the summit, said Li.
The year 2006 marks the fifth anniversary of opening the SCO Secretariat and the coming summit will summarise the work in past five years and put forward the future development, the official said, adding the SCO is holding the summit at its birth place and the event would be highly significant to tackle the common objectives.
The SCO is an inter-governmental international organisation founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by six countries - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It also has four observer states, including Pakistan, Iran, India, and Mongolia.
Comments
Comments are closed.