Prime Minister Narendra Modi will digitally address the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) annual summit meeting in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on Friday. In this meeting, other issues including the Afghanistan crisis, terrorism, regional security, cooperation and connectivity will be discussed. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is also attending this meeting. It is believed that in the presence of Imran Khan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise the issue of terrorism and will again expose the master of terror. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the 21st meeting of the heads of the member states of the SCO Council is being held in Dushanbe in a hybrid format on Friday, which will be chaired by Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahman.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Indian delegation and address the plenary session of the summit via video link and India will be represented in Dushanbe by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. S Jaishankar has left for Dushanbe to attend the meeting. There will be a liaison meeting after the summit. During this, apart from Afghanistan, other issues including regional security, cooperation, and connectivity will also be discussed. According to the ministry, the SCO summit will be attended by leaders of member states, observer countries, the organization's Secretary-General, the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Framework, the President of Turkmenistan, and other invited guests.
While PM Modi will address the summit virtually, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has reached Tajikistan on a two-day visit to attend it. Apart from this meeting, Imran Khan can hold bilateral meetings with other countries. In the summit, Prime Minister Modi is likely to raise the issue of terrorism in the region in the presence of his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan. Prime Minister Modi is expected to address the meeting between 11:30 am and 11:45 am.
Organization celebrating 20th anniversary of the establishment
The importance of the meeting also assumes significance as the organization is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding this year. In Dushanbe, Jaishankar will attend a meeting of the heads of SCO member states in Afghanistan. For the first time, the SCO summit is being held in a hybrid format and this is the fourth summit in which India is participating as a full-time member of the SCO. Under the hybrid format, part of the event is conducted on a digital basis, and the rest is through the physical presence of the invited members.
Iran is also likely to participate in the meeting
According to the ministry, in this summit, the leaders are expected to review the activities of the organization over the past two decades and discuss the possibility of cooperation in the future. The SCO was established on 15 June 2001 and India became a full-time member in 2017. Bagchi said Jaishankar will hold discussions with his counterparts from different countries during his Dushanbe visit. Iran is also likely to participate in this meeting in Dushanbe. Apart from this, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi are expected to come to Dushanbe for the SCO meeting.
PM Modi to attend Quad Summit next week
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Quad Group Leaders' Summit during his visit to the US next week and hold bilateral talks with US President Joe Biden and other group leaders. Giving this information on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at the Quad Group meeting in Washington on September 24. He will then address a high-level segment of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 25 September.
He told that Prime Minister Modi will have a bilateral meeting with Joe Biden in Washington. Prime Minister Modi will attend the Quad Leaders' Summit along with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden in Washington DC, USA on September 24. It is noteworthy that the Quad group includes America, India, Australia and Japan. The US is holding a meeting of the Quad group in which the leaders of the group will participate. Through this, the US seeks to make a strong signal of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and to demonstrate its commitment to the grouping.
