President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov as an honored guest will participate in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will be held on September 15-16 in Samarkand. This was announced by Acting Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov during a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO member states held today in Tashkent, reports Sputnik.

According to Norov, participation in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States was confirmed by the leaders of the member countries of the organization. In addition to them, the summit will be attended by the heads of observer states: Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Confirmation of participation was received from the UN Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs and the heads of the executive bodies of ASEAN, the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU and others.

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, was also invited to participate in the upcoming summit.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an international organization founded by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On June 9, 2017, India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO, and on September 17, 2021, the SCO leaders approved the admission of Iran as a full member of the SCO, which is expected to be held in September 2022.

The SCO is not a military bloc or an open regular security meeting, but takes an intermediate position. The main tasks of the organization are the strengthening of stability and security in a wide area that unites the participating states, the fight against terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug trafficking, the development of economic cooperation, energy partnership, scientific and cultural interaction.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first time the head of Turkmenistan has been invited as an honored guest to the SCO summit. In 2016, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov participated in the anniversary meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tashkent. And last year, when the 20th anniversary of the creation of the SCO was celebrated, he also participated in the summit of the leaders of the countries of this organization in Dushanbe.

Serdar Berdimuhamedov will participate for the first time as a guest of honor in a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States after taking office as President of Turkmenistan in March this year.