What is SCO prime ministers' meeting?

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the 17th meeting of the Heads of Government Council (HGC) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tajik capital Dushanbe later this week.

Li and the heads of government of other SCO member states are expected to approve the organization's budget for 2019 and discuss a wide range of multilateral cooperation issues.

The HGC meeting, also known as the prime ministers' meeting, is the second highest-profile meeting of the SCO after the meeting of the Heads of State Council (HSC), which is the supreme decision-making body in the organization.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (front) presides over the 14th prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, December 15, 2015. /Xinhua Photo

The HSC meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization, and the HGC focuses on the implementation of the tasks set by the heads of states at its annual meeting.

Apart from approving the SCO's budget, the HGC also considers and decides upon major issues related to particular, especially economic spheres of interaction within the bloc.

In June, China hosted the 18th HSC meeting of the SCO in its eastern port city of Qingdao. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other SCO leaders witnessed the signing of 23 cooperative documents.

The Dushanbe HGC meeting offers an important opportunity to turn the blueprint of cooperation into reality that benefits the people in member states.

In addition to HSC and HGC meetings, SCO countries also hold meetings at ministerial and other levels, such as the foreign ministers' meeting, the defense ministers' meeting, the meeting of security council secretaries, and the meeting of heads of law enforcement agencies.

Previous HGC meetings

The first HGC meeting of the SCO took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan in September 2001, three months after the bloc's creation in Shanghai in east China. Since then, the HGC meeting has been held in the six founding members of the organization every year except 2002.

Two Chinese cities have hosted three SCO prime ministers' meetings. Beijing staged the second and eighth meetings in 2003 and 2009 respectively, while the 14th meeting in December 2015 was held in Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province.

Last year, Premier Li attended the 16th HGC meeting in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi from November 30 to December 1. It was also the first HGC meeting after India and Pakistan joined the SCO as full members in June 2017.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L4) attends the 16th prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Sochi, Russia, December 1, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

A number of guiding documents of the SCO were approved at HGC meetings, such as the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation of SCO Member States, the List of Events on Further Development of Project Activities within the SCO Framework for 2017-2021, and the Agreement on International Road Transport Facilitation, which have specified the priorities of SCO economic cooperation.

The heads of government also approved the establishment of the SCO Interbank Consortium and the SCO Business Council at previous meetings.

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