Addressing the 20th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO via video link on Tuesday, China's President Xi Jinping said that Beijing is willing to actively consider the COVID-19 vaccine needs of the SCO countries.
"It is important to boost cooperation on joint prevention and control [against coronavirus], support each other against the coronavirus, protect the security of regional and global healthcare," Xi said at the SCO summit.
The Chinese president has called on SCO member states to step up joint efforts in the prevention and control of COVID-19, including epidemic monitoring, scientific research, and treatment for the disease.
"China suggests setting up a hotline between the national centres on prevention and fight against the diseases to exchange the information timely about transnational infections," Xi said.
Member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) convened at the highest level on Tuesday for a summit hosted by Russia and chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The SCO was established in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In 2017, India and Pakistan joined in as member states.
The organization has four observer states, namely Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. Another six countries — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka — have the status of SCO dialogue partners.
