Union Minister Jitendra Singh said India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was ready to work closely with other member countries of the SCO to jointly address the emerging challenges of the Eurasian region.
China's CPEC projects in Pakistan have slowed down due to the prevailing economic crisis in the neighbouring country.
.There will be a total of 15 key decisions on table for SCO CFM Meet. These decisions will shape SCO Leaders' Summit in July in New Delhi.
After the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting, a meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers is scheduled to be held on 5 May in Goa.
India has extended an invitation to Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
He spoke about the launch of the global Mission ‘LiFE’, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20, and its relevance to ensuring food and energy security.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would be talking about challenges at the Indian borders during the annual meeting of the Defence Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
With Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan opting out of it, the meeting was attended by Pakistan’s parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the prime ministers of other SCO countries~ Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan-- also attended the meeting.
The summit is held annually at the level of prime ministers of SCO countries and deals primarily with the trade and economic agenda of the organisation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had recently attended the SCO Summit hosted by Russia in the virtual format, also will not be attending the meeting on Monday due to his preoccupation with pressing domestic issues.
India, he said, strongly believed in peace, security and prosperity and has always opposed terrorism, illegal arms smuggling, drugs and money laundering. India has remained firm in its commitment to work as per the principles laid down in the SCO Charter, he added.
