New Delhi: Indian Foreign Minister, China, Pakistan and five other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) began a group of grouping in Dushanbe on Wednesday with a focus on a growing situation in Afghanistan.
The Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar represents India at a meeting of SCO’s foreign ministers.
“SCO FMM starts.
The 20th year is the right time to reflect on achievement & intentional about the challenges.
Afghanistan and post-covid recovery pressure worries,” Jaisankar tweeted.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi was among the participants at the meeting.
SCO, seen as a equalizer to NATO, is an eight-member economic block and has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organizations.
India and Pakistan became a permanent member in 2017.
SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the President of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
India has shown a sharp interest in deepening its security cooperation with SCO and regional anti-terrorism structures (mice) specifically related to problems related to security and defense.
India was made by an observer at SCO in 2005 and generally participated in the Minister of Grouping level meeting which focused primarily on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.