New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Tashkent on Tuesday to attend the Annual Meeting of the Defence Ministers’ of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States.
"Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh reached Tashkent in Uzbekistan to attend the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting and also hold bilateral meetings with the Uzbekistan’s Defence Minister, Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbanov", the office of the Defence Minister tweeted.
During the Annual Meeting, Defence Cooperation issues among the SCO Member States will be discussed. Rajnath Singh’s address at the meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. The Ministry of Defence in a statement said that during the visit, Rajnath will meet his Uzbekistan counterpart Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbano.
"Tomorrow, August 23, I will be in Uzbekistan to take part in the SCO Defence Ministers Meet being held at Tashkent. ll be holding a bilateral meeting with Uzbekistan’s Defence Minister, Lt. General Nizamovich, and also interact with the Indian community. Look forward to it," the defence minister said in a tweet on Monday.
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In addition, meetings are also scheduled with Defence Ministers’ of some other Member countries of SCO on the sidelines of this event, where bilateral issues and issues of mutual interest will be discussed. During his stay in Tashkent, Rajnath will pay homage to Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at the monument set up in the latter's name. He will also meet the Indian Diaspora in the country.
Last week, Deputy NSA Vikram Misri participated in the SCO NSAs meeting in Tashkent. He called for combating terrorism, terror financing, transnational organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and strengthening information security. The SCO NSA meeting was primarily focused on Afghanistan, Eurasian connectivity and counter-terrorism measures.
Last month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended a meeting of foreign ministers of SCO countries in Tashkent. India will host the SCO summit next year, and Varanasi has been selected as the SCO region's first “Tourism and Cultural Capital”. SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
