Hi Mangmang. In five days, leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states and its partners will come to Qingdao for their 18th annual gathering. For the next seven days, I'll be here to present special coverage of the event and look at world issues through an SCO perspective. It is the fourth time that the annual summit has been held in China, its birthplace. It will be the second major diplomatic event China hosts this year, following the Boao Forum for Asia. During the summit, leaders will seek to unite on various global issues, push forward a trade facilitation process and improve SCO cooperation. Since its establishment in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has been an important platform for cooperation on the Eurasian continent. CGTN's Grace Shao has more.

The SCO grew out of the "Shanghai Five-Nation" mechanism. In 1996, the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan met in Shanghai, laying the foundation for cooperation among the five nations. Five years later, the leaders of the five countries and Uzbekistan held a historic meeting in Shanghai. It marked the the establishment of the SCO. Since then the SCO has built a spirit of "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, mutual consultations, respect for cultural diversity". The so-called Shanghai spirit has contributed to building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equity and justice, as well as win-win cooperation. Now it is helping the construction of a community of shared future for mankind.

Since its establishment 17 years ago, the SCO has grown into an organization of eight member states. It now includes India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These eight countries' territory occupy three fifths of the Eurasian continent. They also account for half of the world's population and more than 20 percent of the global GDP. In addition to the eight members, the SCO has four observer states and six dialogue partners. The four observer states are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, Sri Lanka are listed as dialogue partners.

In 17 years, the SCO has evolved from security cooperation to the present stage of security cooperation, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. The SCO's 18th annual gathering is back in China to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao. Grace Shao CGTN.