PM Modi, Putin Among 20 World Leaders To Be In China For SCO Summit: Who Will Attend?

Last Updated:August 28, 2025, 23:14 IST

China has said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1 will be the largest in the grouping's history

While India has always maintained strong ties with Russia, the relationship with China is on the mend after being consistently hostile since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes. (Image: AFP/File)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is gearing up to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin among a host of important leaders for the SCO Summit, which he wants to pitch as a non-western style of regional collaboration.

China has said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on August 31 and September 1 will be the largest in the grouping’s history, with 20 world leaders including Modi and Putin. Its foreign ministry said Xi will chair the 25th meeting of the council of heads of state of the SCO and host a welcome banquet as well as bilateral events for participating leaders.

“Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit 2025 will be held in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. President Xi Jinping will chair the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the “SCO Plus" Meeting and deliver keynote speeches. During the summit, President Xi Jinping will host a welcome banquet and bilateral events for participating leaders," the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) said, adding that this is the fifth SCO summit being hosted by Beijing.

Modi, who is travelling to China on Xi’s invitation, is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several leaders at the summit. According to the ministry of external affairs (MEA), India has been a member of the SCO since 2017 and held the presidency of the council of heads of state during 2022-23.

The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus – with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners". China and Russia have often been touted as a counter to western-dominated NATO so as to deepen ties with central Asian states.

India’s participation gains even more significance this time in wake of its worsening ties with the US over the Trump administration’s 50 percent tariff imposition over the purchase of Russian crude oil. While New Delhi has always maintained strong ties with Moscow, the relationship with Beijing is on the mend after being consistently hostile since the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes.

WHO ALL ARE ATTENDING SCO SUMMIT?

Besides the host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the summit will be attended by Modi and a host of world leaders.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim and Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh are other prominent leaders to attend the summit.

From the subcontinent, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Nepal’s PM KP Sharma Oli and Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will attend the summit.

Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing will also be in attendance at the invitation of the Chinese President. The country has been in chaos since the military ousted the democratically elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup, leading to an unprecedented armed uprising and a civil war that has engulfed wide swathes of the country.

Officials of 10 international organisations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, will attend the event.

Here’s a list of the attendees:

(With agency inputs)

Beijing, China

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