ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will represent Pakistan at the virtual SCO Council of Heads of Government (SCO-CHG) meeting to be held in Beijing on Tuesday.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will chair the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The summit will be held via video link due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in China.

The meeting will be attended by the heads of government from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The heads of government of SCO observer states including Belarus, Iran and Mongolia will also attend the meeting.

The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest forum in Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that focuses primarily on the areas of trade, finance, commerce and socio-economic cooperation among SCO member states.

The SCO’s objectives include promoting mutual trust and good-neighborly relations among member states, strengthening regional peace, security and stability.

The upcoming CHG meeting will deliberate upon vital regional and global issues of interest, adopt a Joint Communiqué and approve the SCO’s budget for 2023.

It will also discuss a comprehensive matrix for productive cooperation in trade and economy, transportation and connectivity, science & technology, climate change, culture, energy and tourism.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan attaches great significance to the SCO, an important trans-regional multilateral organization, representing almost half of the world population with over 24 percent of the global GDP.

Pakistan’s membership of SCO reflects our interest for further enhancement of our relations with regional countries, aimed at increasing trade and economic cooperation through enhanced connectivity, it added.

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