Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit Kazakhstan

Chinese President Hu Jintao is to visit Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine on an official visit June 12-20, RIA Novosti reported. The Chinese leader is to attend the 10th anniversary summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to be held in Astana June 15 and the 15th International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg to be held June 16-18. Early May respective ministries reported to President Nazarbayev on preparations for the SCO summit. According to Kazakhstan Foreign Affairs Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov, the summit will focus on summaryizing the SCO activities of the past 10 years, defining directions for further development, and exchanging opinions on the international and regional issues. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental mutual-security organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organization. Kazakhstan is this year's rotating chair state of the SCO.