There will be no bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and their Pakistani counterparts on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China.
There will be no bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and their Pakistani counterparts on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China.
Swaraj, who departed for a two-nation visit to China and Mongolia on Saturday, will participate in a ministerial-level meeting of the SCO on April 24, where India became a full member in 2017.
Meanwhile, on the same day, Sitharaman will take part in the SCO defence ministers' meeting.
Both events will be attended by the respective ministers from Pakistan.
On a related note, no meeting between India and Pakistan on the sidelines of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which concluded recently, was held.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was also present to lead the Pakistani delegation.
As part of strategy to continue high-level engagements dispute occasional hiccups in the relations, Sushma Swaraj arrived in Beijing on Saturday. Last week, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval was in Shanghai to meet top official of China's ruling Communist Party Yang Jiechi. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also visiting China on April 23. She is expected meet her Chinese counterpart Lt Gen Wei Fenghe.
Following the Doklam standoff last year, both countries have increased pace and level of dialogue to scale down tensions. Both sides also held the 11th Joint Economic Group meeting and the fifth Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED).
Swaraj will take part in the foreign ministers' meeting of the eight-member SCO on April 24. She along with other foreign ministers of the group would call on Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 23, and will leave for Mongolia on April 24. The SCO, in which China and Russia play an influential role, specialises in regional security and counter terrorism and related issues. The organisation is comprised of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The ministerial meeting will finalise agenda and set tone for SCO summit to be held in the Chinese city of Qingdao in June. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to take part in the summit.
Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and defence minister Khurram Dastgir Khan will also participate in the ministerial meetings.
(With agency inputs)
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 "Nirmala Sitharaman(left), Sushma Swaraj(right)")
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