Pakistan on Wednesday marked a key diplomatic milestone as it hosted the highly-anticipated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit with world leaders converging in Islamabad with PM Shehbaz Sharif in chair.

The SCO moot — the highest-profile event hosted by the country in years — is being held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in the federal capital, with leaders from 10 countries in attendance.

The leaders from the SCO member states attending the summit include China's Premier of the State Council Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Kyrgyzstan's Chairman of Ministers’ Cabinet Zhaparov Akylbek, and Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's participation at the event was a major highlight, marking the first such visit by an Indian FM in almost a decade amid frosty relations between the two nuclear powers.

Meanwhile, observer state Mongolia is represented by Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai and Turkmenistan by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Rashid Meredov as the special guest.

Formed in 2001, the Eurasian security and political group claims to represent 40% of the world's population and about 30% of its GDP, but its members have diverse political systems and even open disagreements with one another.