Venezuela Joins SCO Initiative on Global Governance, Says President Maduro

"Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced the global governance initiative and sent us an official document on joining this initiative, which I will sign," Maduro said, TASS reported.

Venezuela is joining the global governance initiative to ensure peace and development, the Venezuelan president noted.

The Venezuelan president said that his country closely followed the SCO Summit’s developments and paid special attention to "the handshakes of the Prime Minister of India, our friend Narendra Modi, our friend President (of Russia) Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping."

Maduro described "Russia, China and India as key countries of the multipolar world order."

The president of Venezuela also pointed out that "Russia, being under some 30,000 imposed sanctions, is ranked fourth in the global economy, is the world's leading military power and has the most up-to-date weaponry."

Maduro also stressed that Russia, China, India and Iran support peace and stability.

Addressing the SCO extended meeting earlier on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a five-point global governance initiative, which emphasizes the need to comply with international law, uphold the principle of multilateralism, reject double standards and ensure equal participation in global governance of all countries, regardless of their size and power.

The Chinese leader called for systematic planning and progressive development, ensuring overall coordination of global actions, making full use of the resources of all parties, achieving more tangible results, and avoiding delays and fragmentation in governance through pragmatic cooperation.