Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin.

He said that the strengths of mega-sized markets and the economic complementarity between member states should be leveraged, and trade and investment facilitation should be improved.

Xi also said that cooperation should be enhanced across areas, including energy, infrastructure, green industry, digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, and artificial intelligence.

"We should march toward modernization hand in hand by bringing out the best in one another and working together for a shared future," Xi stressed.

(Cover: Chinese-made new energy buses delivered for use in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, July 4, 2023. /VCG)