New Delhi: Ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers meeting scheduled to commence tomorrow, 29 July in Tashkent, India's former ambassador Anil Trigunayat opined that the Foreign Ministers meeting is an extremely important format for the SCO where the discussions on regional and global issues and challenges are held and the agenda for the Summit is finalized. Trigunayat has served as Director General/Joint Secretary for the Gulf & Haj Divisions in the Ministry of External Affairs,
Speaking to ETV Bharat, former ambassador Anil Trigunayat said, "Dr. Jaishankar last time was present at the Summit as PM Modi participated virtually. The meeting is more important as a continuum since India will be chairing SCO Summit next year".
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will visit Uzbekistan on 29 July at the invitation of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Vladimir Norov to take part in the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. The meeting will discuss preparations for the upcoming Meeting of the Council of Heads of State on 15-16 September 2022 in Samarkand. They will review ongoing cooperation in the expansion of the SCO Organisation and exchange ideas on regional and global developments of common concern.
Trigunayat underlined that an important angle to the meeting is that both Chinese and Pakistan FMs will be there and whether any bilateral or pull asides could happen. "With Chinese FM Wang Yi, it could be a normal bilateral as a follow-up to de-escalate, disengage and return to the status quo on borders. While other challenges like the pandemic and terrorism and the impact of Russia Ukraine war continue to be real and will be discussed and the outcome will be interesting in many ways," said Anil Trigunayat.
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. 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.
