Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan later this week in what will be his first venture outside China since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Xi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan on September 15 and 16 after visiting Kazakhstan a day earlier. He is also scheduled to visit Myanmar following the conference.
The SCO represents an eastern economic and security cooperation bloc gathering China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. Xi is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the event.
