Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has stated that his participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council meeting in India should not be viewed as a bilateral visit, but rather as a commitment to the SCO charter. He is expected to attend the meeting in Goa next month, making him the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in 12 years. India, which currently holds the chairmanship of the 9-member grouping, has formally invited all SCO member countries, including China and Pakistan, to the upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting. The SCO, which includes Russia, India, China, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries, aims to promote regional stability and economic cooperation. The last SCO meeting was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO was held in September 2022.
Bilawal Bhutto will be the first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years. In 2011, then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India.
India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting.Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will also likely participate in the meeting.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s upcoming visit to India for the SCO Council meeting will make him the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in nearly 12 years. The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit India was Hina Rabbani Khar in 2011. India has also sent formal invitations to all members of the SCO, including China and Pakistan, for the upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are expected to participate in the meeting as well.
