Foreign Ministers of eight member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will meet from May 4-5, during which regional counterparts will discuss various regional, security, and political issues.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived in Goa on Wednesday to oversee the preparations and held a series of internal meetings. It is believed that certain bilateral meetings will take place on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting.
India took over the rotating presidency of the SCO at the Samarkand SCO Summit in 2022 and attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic, and people-to-people interactions in the region.
India has been able to promote its relations with SCO nations through meaningful engagement and has shared its civilizational linkages, and official statements said.
“SCO pursues its policy based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, non-interference in internal affairs, equality of all member States and mutual understanding and respect for opinions of each of them,” it added.
Interestingly enough, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is the first senior politician to have visited India in almost 12 years. Upon Mr. Zardari’s arrival at Goa airport, he was received by his Indian counterpart Mr. Jaishankar and shook hands.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization established in 2001. The SCO member states include India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The member states meet in a regular manner to address key socio, cultural, economic and political matters in the region and beyond.
The agenda also includes discussions with regional counterparts on various regional, security, and political issues. The meeting will also stage for the SCO Leaders’ Summit to be held in July in New Delhi.
