Xi to attend SCO summit via video link

BEIJING -- At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) via video conference from Beijing on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Friday.

"Xi will map out the future development of the SCO with the leaders of other countries attending the summit. With joint efforts, the SCO will surely achieve greater development and contribute to the development and prosperity of regional countries," Mao Ning, another Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told a regular news briefing.

Since its founding, the SCO has always followed the "Shanghai Spirit," continuously consolidated good-neighborly friendship and political mutual trust among member states, deepened cooperation in various fields, and played an important and constructive role in international and regional affairs, Mao said.

The world today is experiencing turmoil and changes, with a marked increase in destabilizing, uncertain and unpredictable factors, and the international community and regional countries expect the SCO to contribute more to safeguarding regional security and promoting common development, Mao added.

"As a founding member, China has always taken the SCO as a diplomatic priority. China is ready to work with other member states to actively implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative to promote the building of a closer SCO community with a shared future and create a better future for the Eurasian continent," Mao said.