Khawaja Asif to virtually attend SCO Delhi meet

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif will attend the meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers virtually, said Foreign Office in a statement on Wednesday.

Khawaja Asif will participate in the two-day SCO moot via video link. The two-day gathering will begin tomorrow (April 27) in New Delhi.

India had invited the Pakistani defence minister as well as other SCO members for the meeting.

India is currently the president of SCO and is holding a series of events this year.

SCO comprises China, Russia, India, Pakistan and key Central Asian States. India and Pakistan were admitted full members of the regional grouping in 2017.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will represent Pakistan in the SCO session scheduled in India next month.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead a delegation of Pakistani officials in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Goa in India on May 4-5, Spokeswoman of Foreign Office Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said during a weekly press briefing last week.

Pakistan’s foreign minister will also hold meetings on the sidelines of the SCO moot during his visit to India.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had last year in July also attended the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent.

The foreign minister attending the moot on the invitation of current chairman of SCO CFM Dr S Jaishankar, India’s Minister for External Affairs