DUSHANBE, July 11, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi will attend a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that will take place at the Cholpon-Ata resort town, Kyrgyzstan on July 13.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the meeting will discuss the organization’s activities to further multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework and increase its role on the international arena.

The gathering is a major event for the preparation of the 13th session of the SCO Council of Heads of State scheduled for September in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization or SCO is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.