SCO summit makes way for Beijing test-takers

BEIJING - The Thursday schedule for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit has been altered to make way for students and their parents in Beijing for the National College Entrance Examinations (NCEE) that day, China's Foreign Ministry (FM) said Wednesday.

The two-day summit, which opened Wednesday, will convene at 9:30 am Thursday, half-an-hour later than originally planned, in order to minimize the traffic impact on examinees rushing to exam spots across the city, said an official with the FM who participated in scheduling the summit, adding that the decision was made months ago.

To ensure that summit attendees can smoothly pass from their hotel to the meeting venue, temporary traffic controls will be in place from about 9 am, when the exam begins, the city's traffic management bureau confirmed Wednesday.

The controls will last for about 30 minutes on Chang'an Street, a major road leading to the Great Hall of the People, the summit venue, and other roads extending from Chang'an Street, said a traffic police officer with the bureau.

The NCEE, also known as "gaokao" in Chinese, is regarded as a destiny-shaping event for high schoolers. More than 70,000 students in Beijing will take the exam on Thursday and Friday.