On June 8, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev departed for the People's Republic of China to attend the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in the city of Qingdao. 

The leaders of the SCO member states, which will meet for the first time with full participation of India and Pakistan, will discuss prospective areas of further improvement of the organization's activities, regional security issues, expansion of economic and investment cooperation, intensification of interaction in transport and communication and other aspects of multilateral cooperation. 

Following the meeting of the Heads of states, it is planned to adopt the Qingdao Declaration, sign a Cooperation Program in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism for 2019-2021, an Action Plan for 2018-2022 on implementation of provisions of the Treaty on long-term good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, Joint appeal to youth and other documents. 

After an exchange of views, it is planned to adopt a decision on the presiding country in the organization in 2018-2019, to approve candidacies for the posts of the Secretary General and the Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure for the next three years. 

Within the framework of participation in the SCO Summit, the President of Uzbekistan will hold a number of bilateral meetings and negotiations. 

UzA