Full coverage: President Xi Visits 3 Nations, Attends SCO Summit

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- or SCO -- is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai in 2001.

The territory of its six members – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- covers three-fifths of the Eurasian continent.

The member nations' combined population make up a quarter of the people living on the planet today. There are also two new acceding members to the SCO, Indian and Pakistan, four observer nations, and six dialogue partners.

The SCO originally focused on security concerns: eliminating threats of terrorism, separatism and extremism in Eurasia. Members are committed to military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

Economic cooperation and connectivity have become another pillar of the SCO.