The SCO heads of government will meet in Pakistan from October 15–16. A ministerial meeting and multiple rounds of meetings with senior officials focusing on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member states will take place ahead of the event.
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Pakistan today formally announced that PM Modi has been invited to the SCO summit in Islamabad.
Islamabad: Pakistan today formally announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting being held in Islamabad in mid-October.
Pakistani media reported that Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for the Pakistan Foreign Office, stated during her weekly press briefing that Islamabad had extended invitations to the heads of state to attend the meeting.
She said, “An invitation has also been sent to India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,” and mentioned that a few nations had already confirmed their attendance.
“The country that has confirmed will be notified in due course,” Ms. Baloch continued.
The SCO heads of government will meet in Pakistan from October 15–16. A ministerial meeting and multiple rounds of meetings with senior officials focusing on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member states will take place ahead of the event.
The invitation is viewed by analysts as a “protocol” because PM Modi is unlikely to accept given the tense relations between the two neighboring nations.
Prime Minister Modi might send a ministerial delegation to represent India at the SCO meeting, since heads of state are not required to attend. Ministers from India have previously represented their country at SCO CHG meetings, and this time is no exception.
The 24th annual summit of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Kazakhstan on July 3–4, this year. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar represented India in Astana. PM Modi was not present.
Analysts from Pakistan claim they do not anticipate PM Modi visiting the country for the meeting.
“It is an obligatory protocol that any host nation adheres to, sending invitations to Prime Minister Modi and every other member state. Pakistan has followed suit. This does not seem to be a political ploy to me. Nonetheless, political analyst Kamran Yousaf stated, “I do not see PM Modi arriving in Islamabad.”
In order to attend the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Pakistan’s then-foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, traveled to India last year.
