The Defence Ministers of India, Russia, China and other countries attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on Friday and deliberated on pressing regional security challenges and related issues.
The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is also expected to review the overall situation in Afghanistan.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who was supposed to attend the meeting virtually, skipped the deliberation. The Pakistani side was represented by Malik Ahmad Khan, who is the Special Assistant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on Defense Affairs.
“India views SCO as an important organisation to promote defence cooperation among member states. We, as a nation, wish to further strengthen the spirit of trust and cooperation among the members of the SCO,” Singh said in his opening remarks.
Rajnath Singh called upon the member states to unitedly fight terrorism and eliminate the menace in all its forms.
Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, Russia’s Sergei Shoigu, Tajikistan’s Colonel General Sherali Mirzo, Iran’s Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani and Kazakhstan’s Colonel General Ruslan Zhaksylykov are among those attending the meeting in Delhi.
Earlier, the officials said that the main focus of the deliberations would be on regional security situations including the developments in Afghanistan.
The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.
(With Inputs from Shailendra Wangu)
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