June 10, The Iran Project - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani arrived in China on Friday (June 8) afternoon to attend�the 18th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Chinese port city of Qingdao.

On the first day of his visit (June 9), President Rouhani held talks with his Pak counterpart Mamnoon Hussain, Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani as well as Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on the sidelines of SCO summit.

During the meeting, the Iranian and Pak presidents highlighted the need for expansion and development of political and economic ties, and conferred on a range of topics of mutual concern.

In a meeting, the Iranian president and his Russian counterpart also talked about ways to widen Tehran-Moscow political and economic relations.

The two presidents also discussed regional issues including the latest situation of the July 2015 nuclear deal from which the US withdrew unilaterally on May 8.

Rouhani said Russia played a constructive and important role in the implementation of the nuclear agreement.

"Given the US illegal withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, more serious and more important dialogue between our two countries is required," RIA Novosti quoted Rouhani as saying.

Putin, for his part, stressed that Moscow would continue to cooperate with Iran in economic, energy swap and defense, saying "there is a good outlook for cooperation in all fields, including economy."

"Moscow backs Iran's membership and its permanent free trade agreement with Eurasia," he noted.

Talking to his Afghan counterpart, Rouhani described a secure and stable Afghanistan as required for regional security and development.

Islamic Republic of Iran will spare no effort in maintaining peace and fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, President Rouhani added.

Ghani, in turn, urged both sides to accelerate economic relations.

He stated that Afghanistan considers developing relations with Iran in line with its national interests.

"Developing Chabahar Port is not only important for Iran, Afghanistan and India, but for promoting ties between China and Central Asia," President Ghani added.

Talking to his Belarusian counterpart, Rouhani termed Tehran-Minsk relations as growing in various fields, calling for deepening of bilateral ties using all existing potential and capacities in both countries.

The Iranian president said that Belarus has always been a friendly country for Iran and Tehran is ready for promotion of mutual ties in various field of economy and trade particularly science and modern technology.

Lukashenko noted his country is determined to broaden political and economic relations with Iran as a key partner of Belarus in the region.

He also described as 'wise' Iran's stance on the US unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and said unilateral actions and breaches of international obligations would endanger international law.

The heads of eight member states - China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan - as well as those of the four observer states- Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia- are attending in the summit being held in China from June 9-10.