🔻 Pezeshkian goes to Kyrgyzstan today to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit

Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, is expected to travel to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, today, Monday, to take part in the heads of state summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, Xi Jinping, the President of China, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, and Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, are also among the leaders who will attend the two-day summit in Bishkek.

The Kremlin said that Mr. Putin will hold a bilateral meeting with Mr. Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit. In recent years, Russia and Iran have expanded their political, economic and military cooperation.

Xi Jinping arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday and, ahead of the start of the summit, spoke about a “golden era” in China–Kyrgyzstan relations.

This year’s summit is being held to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The organization has 10 members, including China, Russia, Iran, India and Pakistan, and it also cooperates with 15 dialogue partners, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The founding statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation says the body is “not an alliance against other countries,” but in recent years Russian and Chinese leaders have used its meetings to emphasize their view of a multipolar world order and to criticize Western influence.