Pakistani president to attend SCO summit in China

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain will visit China on June 9 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Hussain will have sideline meetings with the leaders of SCO member countries, said the ministry.

This is the first SCO summit since the expansion of the regional body in June 2017 at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan, when India and Pakistan became full members of the group.

The SCO was established in Shanghai in 2001, with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as founding members.

With the inclusion of Pakistan and India, the eight-member group now accounts for more than 60 percent of the Eurasian landmass, nearly half of the world's population and over 20 percent of global gross domestic product.