DUSHANBE, August 5, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda yesterday held a meeting to discuss preparations for a meeting of the heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member nations that is scheduled to take place in Dushanbe from September 11-12, 2014.

Subhiddin Muhiddinov, a senior consultant to the Tajik president’s press center, says a special attention was paid to the issues related to organization of a cultural program of the upcoming SCO summit.

Senior representatives of observer states and SCO’s dialogue’s partners will also attend the SCO summit in Dushanbe.  Besides, a large number of experts, political scientists and journalists will arrive in Dushanbe during the summit, Muhiddinov noted.  

Founded by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on June 15, 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization.  Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization.

The Organization currently has six full members -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia, Iran, Pakistan and India are four observer states, and SCO’s dialogue partners include Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

We will recall that Tajikistan has assumed the SCO rotating presidency for this year.