Ahmadinejad to visit China in early June

Leaders from seven countries, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will visit China and attend the 12th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held on June 6-7, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday. Other leaders include Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin announced in Beijing, adding that their visits will come at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Founded in Shanghai in 2001, SCO comprises six member countries -- China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. China has invited Ahmadinejad as an observer. The upcoming summit will review the issue of accepting Afghanistan as an observer state and Turkey as a dialogue partner, Xinhua reported earlier this week.