President Xi leaves Beijing for BRICS, SCO summits

President Xi Jinping leaves Beijing on Wednesday morning for key summits involving two groups in which China is a major force.

Xi will attend the seventh BRICS summit, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, and the 15th meeting of the Council of SCO Heads of State on Thursday and Friday in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan Republic.

It's the first time that the two summits, with China and Russia members of both, will take place together.

According to the Foreign Ministry, the BRICS summit will see the leaders of the five countries jointly issue a Ufa Declaration. They will also hold talks with businesses and regional leaders.

The BRICS are made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

While the member countries are witnessing slowing growth, how the group will fuel their future development is of immense global interest.

Vice-Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said this week that the countries will jointly develop a BRICS partnership to lift the group's status and the role of emerging market economies and developing countries in global governance.

The Foreign Ministry said earlier that procedural steps for India and Pakistan to join the SCO, part of its expansion program, are scheduled to be adopted at the Ufa summit.

The SCO, founded in 2001, currently has six member states -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners.