New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral meetings with his counterparts of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries on April 27. He held bilateral meetings with the defence ministers of Kazakhstan, Iran, Tajikistan and China.
During the meeting, bilateral defence-related issues and other matters of mutual interest were discussed by the ministers.
The first bilateral meeting was held with the Defence Minister of Kazakhstan, Colonel General Ruslan Zhaksylykov followed by Iran’s Defence Minister, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani, Tajikistan’s Defence Minister Colonel General Sherali Mirzo and Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu.
This is the first visit by the Chinese Defence Minister following the border transgression in Galwan. India and China recently held the 18th round of the India-China Corps Commander Level Meeting at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Chinese side. India, and China during the 18th round of Corps Commander Level Meeting, agreed to maintain security and stability on the ground in the Western Sector of the LAC.
The meeting took place after a gap of five months. The last meeting between the two sides at the Corps Commander level was held in December last year.
On April 28, Singh will likely meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and Belarus and Uzbekistan Defence Ministers.
The theme of India’s Chairmanship of SCO in 2023 is ‘Secure-SCO’. India attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the region.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization established in 2001. The SCO members include Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan besides India. Apart from the member states, two observer countries Belarus and Iran will also be participating in the SCO Defence Ministers Meeting.
