New Delhi: India is all set to attend two major meetings in Uzbekistan which include Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers meeting from July 28-29 and an international conference on Afghanistan from July 25-26. Uzbekistan is the chair of the grouping for this year and it will be hosting all the major events including the main SCO leaders summit scheduled to be held in September this year.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar will be travelling to Uzbekistan to attend the SCO foreign ministers meeting next week. The meeting is a run-up to the SCO leader's summit slated to be held later this year. The SCO foreign ministers meeting in Uzbekistan will see leaders from all the countries discussing food security, regional stability, and peace as well as reducing poverty.
According to sources, several bilateral meetings are expected to take place on the sidelines of the SCO foreign ministers meeting, where EAM Jaishankar is likely to come face to face with Chinese FM.
Meanwhile, at the SCO leaders summit, which is scheduled to be held in September this year, PM Narendra Modi is likely to attend the meeting and it is expected that the PM will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladamir Putin. India will be handed over the chairmanship of the SCO, which means all the major events will take place in New Delhi next year.
Earlier in May this year, India-Uzbekistan held the 15th round of Foreign Office Consultations, during which both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the state and prospects of bilateral cooperation including political, security, trade-economic, connectivity, development partnership, humanitarian and cultural spheres.
The two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, including Afghanistan. They agreed to further enhance cooperation in the UN, SCO and other multilateral fora.
The Indian side conveyed its full support for Uzbekistan’s ongoing chairmanship of SCO. Both sides highly assessed the holding of the 1st India-Central Asia Summit in January 2022 and agreed to expeditiously implement its outcomes along with other Central Asian countries.
International Conference on Afghanistan
A senior officer from the Ministry of External Affairs will be representing India in Uzbekistan at Afghanistan: security and economic development conference on July 25-26. The meeting assumes significance as it is taking place almost after 1 year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on 15 August 2021.
The international conference on Afghanistan will witness the participation of delegations from more than 20 counties across the globe and several international organizations. The discussion will be mainly focused on the security situation and humanitarian crisis prevailing in the war-torn nations of Afghanistan.
