Bishkek: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, arrived at the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, to attend the 19th summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). He held discussions with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and also with Chinese President, Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
While the Russian President invited Narendra Modi to be the main guest at Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September, the Chinese President has accepted India’s invitation to visit the country for the next informal summit.
Russia and India reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations to strengthen the strategic relationship between the two countries. The
Relations with China improved after a lull when the Chinese government withdrew its support to Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Masood Azhar, paving the way for the terrorist to be designated as global terrorist at the UN.
Narendra Modi tweeted that the meeting with President Xi was extremely fruitful and said that both sides will continue working together to improve economic and cultural ties between the two countries.
Prime Minister Modi is looking to resolve issues like opening the Bank of China branch in India and to the issues related to the listing of Masood Azhar.
Foreign Secretary Gokhale said that the issue of Pakistan had come up in the meeting with the Chinese President. Modi told the Chinese leader that Pakistan need to create an atmosphere free of terror.
Interestingly, SCO summit will be the first international platform where Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will share a table when the summit takes place. However, no official meeting will take place between the two leaders.
The SCO led by China is an eight member organization begun in 2001. It comprises of India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. India and Pakistan became full members of the grouping only in 2017.
