On Pakistan’s participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meeting, which will be held in India, the Ministry of External Affairs stated on Thursday that it would be inappropriate to focus on a specific member.
Arindam Bagchi, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), stated that New Delhi has been inviting all SCO member-states to events taking place during India’s presidency. As the current Chair, India will host the next Council of Heads of State Summit this year. The SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is scheduled for May 4-5 in Goa.
Bagchi, in a statement, underlined further that India had extended similar invitations to all SCO member-states, and looked forward to a successful meeting.
“Specifically, for the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting that is scheduled to take place in Goa on May 4, and 5th, we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member states, and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not be really appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country,” Bagchi said at the presser.
On the request for bilateral meetings, he added that it was premature. He further emphasised that the External Affairs Minister does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings.
“Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think, it is premature. Let’s see the full participation. Usually, EAM does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as it can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings. You saw that on the occasion of the G20 Foreign Minsiters’ meeting,” the official spokesperson of MEA said.
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Officials said on Thursday that Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will visit India in May for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Goa.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Bhutto-Zardari will lead the Pakistani delegation to the meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers (CFM).
During a weekly press conference on Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that Bhutto-Zardari is attending the SCO-CFM meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
“Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan’s continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” the spokesperson said.
Bilawal will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years, reported Business Recorder. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India.
For many years, relations between the two countries have been strained due to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has sought the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir in order to hold talks.
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The meeting is also expected to include Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. India assumed the presidency of the nine-member megagrouping in September of last year, and will host key ministerial meetings and the summit this year.
Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four Central Asian countries–Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan–are members of the 20-year-old organisation. Iran is the newest member, and will attend the grouping’s meeting as a full member for the first time under Indian Presidency.
