External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will take part in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Pakistan.
The Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed that EAM will participate in the summit which will take place in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In a briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The External Affairs Minister will lead our delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO Summit, which will be held in Islamabad on 15th and 16th October.”
Notably, Pakistan is hosting the meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting. It is organizing the meeting on rotational basis.
"EAM Jaishankar to lead Indian delegation to SCO Summit in Islamabad": MEA
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Why Is The Visit Important?
Jaishankar’s participation in this meeting is seen as of importance because this will be his first visit to Pakistan as a Foreign Minister and also this will be the first official visit to Islamabad by any Indian External Affairs Minister in last nine years.
Late Union Minister Sushma Swaraj was the last foreign minister to visit Pakistan in 2015. She had led an Indian delegation to Islamabad for talks on Afghanistan.
This visit is also important as India had recently given a befitting reply to the statement made by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at UNGA.
Taking a swipe at Pakistan during his address at United Nations General Assembly, S Jaishankar said, “Many countries get left behind due to circumstances beyond their control. But some make conscious choices with disastrous consequences. A premier example is our neighbour, Pakistan. Unfortunately, their misdeeds affect others as well, especially the neighbourhood.”
He added, “Today, we see the ills it sought to visit on others consume its own society. It can’t blame the world; this is only karma.”
At the background of such situation, it becomes important to look at the outcome of the meeting.
What Is SCO?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its predecessor was the mechanism of the Shanghai Five.
The goals of SCO include strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good-neighborliness between the Member States. It also aims to encourage the effective cooperation between the Member States in spheres such as politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc.
It has a motive to jointly ensure and maintain peace, security and stability in the region and promote a new democratic, fair and rational international political and economic international order.
The supreme decision-making body of the SCO is the Council of Heads of States (CHS). It meets once a year and decide upon all the important issues of the Organization. The Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) (CHG) meets once a year to discuss the strategy of multilateral cooperation and priority areas within the Organization, determine fundamental and topical issues in economic and other spheres, and approve the budget of the SCO.
Also Read: ‘It’s ‘Karma…’: S Jaishankar Takes A Swipe At Pakistan, WARNS Of Consequences
