President of Iran Mahmud Ahmadinejad, President of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republuic, on 16 August.

"We have received confirmations on participation of the presidents of Iran, Mongolia and Turkmenistan as well as the ministers of foreign affairs of India and Pakistan. The responses from Afghanistan and the UN Secretary General are expected soon," SCO national coordinator, Tolend Makeev, said.

According to the national coordinator, the ministry of foreign affairs working group in collaboration with colleagues from other SCO countries is working on the agenda and the list of specific multilateral documents to be signed during the summit. The Bishkek declaration of the heads of the SCO countries will be the final document of the summit. However, the summit’s key document will be an agreement on long-term neighborliness, friendship and cooperation. This document is designed to fix on paper the existing partnership relations between the SCO countries.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev invited the president of Turkmenistan and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to attend the summit as guests of honor.

The SCO consists of Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China. Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status. The SCO cooperates with Afghanistan at the level of the contact group set up in November 2005.