Turkish, Chinese presidents meet in Uzbekistan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met Friday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The two leaders’ closed-door meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. No further information on the meeting was released.

Erdogan on Friday is attending the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO as a special guest, with Türkiye taking part at the presidential level for the first time since Ankara obtained SCO dialogue partner status in 2012.

Later, he is expected to address the second session of the summit and hold bilateral meetings with leaders including his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

On the sidelines of the summit, Erdogan also held a closed-door meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

Established in 2001, the eight-member organization aims to strengthen friendly, good neighborly relations and mutual trust among member states.