China to host SCO defence officials meet to discuss future security cooperation: Officials

Defence officials of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will hold a two-day meeting in Qingdao city of China later this month to discuss future security cooperation between the member states, an official said on Friday. "The first meeting of international military cooperation organs of the SCO member states for 2025 will be held in Qingdao city of east China's Shandong province from March 26 to 27," Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, the spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defence (MND), told a media briefing here.

He said the representatives from defence ministries of the Shanghai SCO member states and its secretariat will attend the meeting and exchange views on future defence and security cooperation.

SCO comprises ten member states -- China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.


SCO has a strong counter terrorism mechanism called Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS).

China is due to hold this year's SCO leaders' summit.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the media here on March 7 that the summit will be held in the Chinese port city of Tianjin in autumn this year.

As the rotating president, China is putting together more than 100 events in political, security, economic and people-to-people fields under the slogan of "Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move", Wang said.

"We will take real actions to carry forward the Shanghai spirit and promote SCO development", he said.