ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif may attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting online.
Asif will take part in the SCO moot, which lasts two days, through a video link. The meeting will start tomorrow (April 27) in New Delhi and last for two days.
The Chinese Defence Minister, Li Shangfu, will go to India for the first time to join the meeting.
The Chinese Defence Ministry says that Li will attend the SCO meeting on Thursday and Friday. Where he will give a speech and meet with the leaders of other countries’ representatives. Also going to the event will be the Russian minister of defence.
Belarus and Iran, which are not members of the SCO, will also send observers to the meeting.
A report said that Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet with his peers from other participating countries on the side. They will talk about peace and security in the area, efforts to stop terrorism within the SCO, and how to make multilateralism work well.
Asif chose to attend the regional meeting online, but his colleague, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, will go to Goa on May 4 and 5 for the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
This would be the first time since 2011 that a foreign minister from Pakistan went to India.
The SCO is a group of countries that came together in 2001. China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and India are its partners.
