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At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks.
Updated : Jun 30, 2023, 11:13 PM IST | Edited by : Riddhima Kanetkar
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, it was announced here on Friday.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.
This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.
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Later answering a question at a media briefing on Xi’s participation, another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning said besides delivering “important remarks”, the Chinese President together with “other participating leaders, chart the course for the future growth of the organisation.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced, "At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4."
According to the statement issued by the SCO, the virtual SCO Council of Heads of State is slated to be held on July 4, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi serving as the chair.
The statement read, "The theme of the Summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'. The SECURE acronym was coined by the Prime Minister at the 2018 SCO Summit and stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. These themes have been highlighted during our Chairmanship of SCO."