PM Modi on a two-day visit to Uzbekistan to attend SCO Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Samarkand in Uzbekistan from today, September 15 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.

PM Modi is vising the country at the invitation of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Ministry of External Affairs said that at the summit, leaders are expected to review the grouping's activities over the past two decades and discuss the prospects of multilateral cooperation.

Sources reports that the summit will be attended by leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests.

The 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will discuss topical issues of regional and global importance.

This will be the first in-person summit after the Covid pandemic hit the world. The last summit was held in June 2019 in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are among the invited leaders. 

PM Modi is also likely to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit.

The SCO is an inter-governmental organisation founded in Shanghai in June 2001. It currently comprises eight Member States - China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.