Pakistani PM to attend SCO summit along with Indian PM

Pakistani PM to attend SCO summit along with Indian PM

ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scheduled to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit this month in Uzbekistan.

The meeting of SCO China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Pakistan and India will take place on 15-16 September 2022 in Uzbek capital city of Samarkand.

He is expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the summit.

Reports emerged in August claimed that a meeting is likely to be held between PM Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yet to announce whether Sharif would meet Indian premier.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto, who attended the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Meetingin July, had said that there are no plans of meeting between the premiers of the neighbouring countries at SCO summit.

Meanwhile, a high-profile meeting between Russian President Vladmir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would be held, in a first since Moscow launched a military operation against Ukraine.

Uzbekistan took over the chairmanship of the organization from Tajikistan on September 17, 2021 and this year the moot will discuss various matters, including, development of intraregional trade.