ASTANA
Shanghai Cooperation Organization's meeting started with the member countries' prime ministers on Monday, in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Karim Massimov the prime minister of Kazakhstan, Djoomart Otorbaev the prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, Kokhir Rasulzoda the prime minister of Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan's Deputy Prime Minister's First Assistant, Rustam Azimov, are the participants of the meeting.
After the meeting in which energy cooperation will be one of the topics on the agenda, Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Massimov and the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Dmitry Mezentsev, will give a joint press conference on the decisions that took place at the meeting.
The Shanghai five grouping was created in 1996 by the heads of states of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
The five member nations first admitted Uzbekistan to the Shanghai five, and together the states founded the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2001. Its aim is to raise cooperation between the nations.
India, Pakistan, Iran, and Mongolia are the current observer states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which holds half of the world's oil production and consumption.
www.aa.com.tr/en
