China welcomes PM Modi’s planned visit to attend SCO summit

Beijing: China on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to the Tianjin summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be held later this month. After a gap of over seven years, Prime Minister Modi is expected to travel to China later this month to attend the annual summit of the SCO, people familiar with the matter in Delhi said this week.

China welcomes Prime Minister Modi for the SCO Tianjin Summit, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said while answering a query on reports that Modi’s visit to China to attend the Tianjin summit.

“We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness,” he said.

China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1.

Leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations, will attend relevant events, Guo said.

The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO, he said.