Rajnath Singh to attend SCO meet in Uzbekistan tomorrow, may meet Chinese counterpart Wei

India

pti-PTI

New
Delhi,
Aug
22:
Defence
Minister
Rajnath
Singh
will
travel
to
the
Uzbek
capital,
Tashkent,
on
Tuesday
on
a
three-day
visit
to
attend
a
defence
ministerial
conclave
of
the
Shanghai
Cooperation
Organisation
(SCO).
Chinese
Defence
Minister
General
Wei
Fenghe
and
Russian
Defence
Minister
Sergei
Shoigu
are
also
expected
to
attend
the
SCO
meet,
besides
their
counterparts
from
other
member
countries
of
the
grouping.

The
SCO
defence
ministerial
meeting
is
taking
place
around
three
weeks
ahead
of
the
annual
summit
of
the
influential
grouping.
The
summit
is
scheduled
for
September
15-16
in
Samarkand.

“Tomorrow,
August
23,
I
will
be
in
Uzbekistan
to
take
part
in
the
SCO
Defence
Ministers
Meet
being
held
at
Tashkent.
I
will
be
holding
a
bilateral
meeting
with
Uzbekistan’s
Defence
Minister,
Lt.
General
Nizamovich,
and
also
interact
with
the
Indian
community.
Look
forward
to
it,”
Singh
said
in
a
tweet.

The
defence
ministry
said
Singh,
during
his
August
23-25
visit
to
Tashkent,
will
meet
the
defence
ministers
of
some
of
the
SCO
member
countries.
However,
there
is
no
clarity
on
whether
there
will
be
a
meeting
between
Singh
and
Shoigu.

Indian
and
Chinese
troops
are
engaged
in
a
bitter
standoff
at
several
friction
points
in
eastern
Ladakh
for
over
two
years.
Singh
is
scheduled
to
deliver
his
address
at
the
SCO
meeting
on
August
24.

“During the visit to Tashkent, Raksha Mantri will meet his Uzbek counterpart Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbanov, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

“In
addition,
meetings
are
also
scheduled
with
Defence
Ministers
of
some
other
member
countries
of
SCO
on
the
sidelines
of
this
meeting,
where
bilateral
issues
and
issues
of
mutual
interest
will
be
discussed,”
it
added.

The
SCO
meeting
is
expected
to
deliberate
on
regional
security
challenges,
including
the
situation
in
Ukraine
and
Afghanistan.
The
SCO
is
an
influential
economic
and
security
bloc
and
has
emerged
as
one
of
the
largest
transregional
international
organisations.
India
and
Pakistan
became
its
permanent
members
in
2017.

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
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.

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.