ASTANA, Jul. 3 (TASS) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, to take part in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Kremlin’s press office announced on Wednesday.

The SCO summit is scheduled to be held on July 4 at the Palace of Independence in Astana. It is expected that SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming will attend the summit.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the leaders of several international organizations were also invited.

The SCO was founded on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai. Initially the organization included Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in 2017 they were joined by India and Pakistan. Tehran applied to join in 2008 and became a full-fledged member of the organization in July 2023. Belarus is expected to join the group soon.

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