New Delhi:
External affairs minister
S
Jaishankar
will be representing India instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) annual summit in Kazakhstan's
Astana
, scheduled for July 3 and 4.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi, who usually attends the
SCO summit
, expressed India's full support for the success of the summit during a phone conversation with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday.
"The Indian delegation at the SCO summit will be led by external affairs minister S Jaishankar," said external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The summit is expected to have discussions on regional security matters, methods to enhance connectivity and trade among member nations, current situations in Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as strengthening overall security cooperation within the SCO.
The SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. It was established at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
India's became an observer country of the SCO in 2005 and later it became a full member state at the Astana summit in 2017. Pakistan also joined as a permanent member alongside India in 2017.
Since then, India has demonstrated a strong interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which focuses on issues related to security and defence.
English (US) ·