Deputy PM Dar in Moscow to lead Pakistan delegation at SCO summit
ISLAMABAD: (Web News)Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday arrived in Moscow to lead Pakistan’s delegation at the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organization that strives to strengthen cooperation between member states in politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental sectors.
The CHG is the second highest SCO forum that deals with economic, trade, social, cultural and humanitarian issues, as well as budgetary matters related to the organization. Dar will present the country’s stance on regional and global issues at the summit.
Upon arrival at the airport, Dar was received by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin along with other Russian and Pakistani diplomatic officials, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry.
“In his address to the SCO CHG, the Deputy Prime Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on important regional and global issues as well as ways to strengthen the Organization for the benefit of the SCO region,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
The CHG summit on Nov. 17-18 will be attended by the heads of government from Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and the vice president of Iran as well as the foreign minister of India, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry.
In addition to SCO member States, the heads of the governments of Mongolia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and heads of international organizations including Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Euro Asian Economic Union (EAEU), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) will also be attending the meeting.
The foreign ministry in Islamabad said Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister, will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of other SCO countries on the sidelines of the summit.
This will be the second time this year that Pakistan and India will be attending a SCO summit after their brief four-day military confrontation in May that left more than 70 people dead on both sides before Washington brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi had participated in a SCO summit hosted by China in August this year.
