Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, July 31.

“The Russian and Chinese presidents are expected to meet in September on the sidelines of the SCO summit here in Dushanbe and the APEC summit in Beijing [in November],” Lavrov said at a meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, according to RIA Novosti.

The Russian Foreign Minister met with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a regular session of the SCO Council of Heads of State. Other issues discussed by the top diplomats included China’s assistance in organizing a humanitarian mission in eastern Ukraine and reinforcing joint efforts to fight terrorism due to recent terrorist attacks in China.

Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia might change the structure of its trade missions due to current trends that make increasing cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region as well as Africa and Latin America