Russia Preparing For Key Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads Of State Meetings

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, is taking part in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tianjin, China. Foreign Ministers of all the SCO members are present. These meetings are focused on preparations for the SCO Heads of State Council summit, also in Tianjin, which is to take place from August 31 to September 1. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is expected to attend.

That main programme will be followed by a “SCO Plus” summit, and a massive Chinese military parade in Beijing on September 3 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Asia.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian security, humanitarian and trade group. It was originally established in 2001 to deal with the issue of American involvement in Afghanistan; but has now expanded its remit to cover a far wider geopolitical remit. Full members include Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and the UAE are dialogue partners.

Also taking place will be events involving senior officials from other international and regional organisations, which will showcase the SCO’s agenda for the countries of the Global South and the Global East. These can be expected to include representatives from the BRICS countries, Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Eurasian Economic Union amongst others.

The participants will discuss ways to advance the organisation and exchange views on regional and international priorities.

China currently holds the SCO chairmanship and is in a decisive phase, with Russia providing strong support to China’s efforts to implement its extensive action plans. The respective foreign ministry officials take part in high-level and expert meetings, various forums, and workshops, with numerous bilateral meetings between Ministers also taking place. Sergey Lavrov for example held meetings with China’s Wang Yi on Monday. Lavrov has also met with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

Foreign ministers will discuss draft documents and resolutions to be submitted to their Heads of State for consideration for inclusion at the main September meetings.

The common vision for the further evolution of the SCO will be reflected in the Development Strategy to 2035. The outcomes of implementing a similar document, which was adopted at the SCO summit in Ufa in 2015, were analysed when working on the draft. That will be released at the Heads of State event.

Attending SCO member ministries and agencies are also preparing statements and documents on artificial intelligence, green industry, investment cooperation, and the digital economy. They are discussing the advances made in implementing the SCO foreign ministers’ proposals on improving the SCO’s activities, which were approved at last year’s summit. Expert consultations are underway on a draft agreement on creating an All-Purpose Centre for Countering Security Challenges and Threats that was put together by Russia in conjunction with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Tajikistan’s project on creating an Anti-Drug Centre.

Initiatives in other areas are also being developed. The approval at the summit of the 2026-2030 Programme of Cooperation in Countering Extremist Ideology within the SCO region (the document was prepared by the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) is an important step in ensuring security.

The Ministers have also been holding a series of discussions on global and regional issues. The foreign ministers will exchange views on ongoing developments in the Middle East, and the state of affairs in the aftermath of the recent strikes by Israel and the United States on Iran. They will discuss Afghanistan-related matters as well. US President Donald Trump’s threat to issue secondary, 100% sanctions on countries trading with Russia – with many of them being SCO members – will also have been discussed.

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