China's Xi calls on SCO to improve mechanisms for security

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to improve mechanisms for responding to security threats and challenges, in a meeting with foreign ministers and heads of delegations in China for an SCO meeting on Tuesday.

The SCO should also align development strategies with member states, and with cooperation initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said, according to Chinese official media Xinhua.

Among those he has met with were Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to whom he said that both countries should support each other and make good progress in strengthening SCO as a strategic platform, Xinhua reported.