New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at a virtual meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Tuesday. The CHG meeting, which is held annually, focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the bloc and approves its annual budget.
"The 21st meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government will be held on November 1 in the virtual format. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India in the meeting," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. It said the meeting will be attended by SCO member states, observer states, the SCO secretary general and the executive director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
Turkmenistan and other invited guests are expected to join the deliberations. "India remains actively engaged in various SCO activities/dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as other multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework," the MEA said in a statement.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
The annual SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders of the grouping attended it. Usually, the heads of government of the SCO are represented by foreign ministers at the CHG meeting while a number of countries send their prime ministers also. (PTI)
