Yekaterinburg hosts Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit

On the first day of the Yekaterinburg summit, a limited-attendance meeting of the Council of Heads of SCO member states was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Chinese President Hu Jintao, SCO Secretary General Bolat Nurgaliyev and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Myrzakan Subanov.

Chinese President Hu Jintao held bilateral talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev at the SCO summit today, with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon meeting with Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel. Uzbek President Islam Karimov held talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The Council meeting was followed by an informal dinner for heads of state who participated in the summit.