PM lands in Dushanbe to attend SCO Summit on Afghanistan

DUSHANBE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday reached Dushanbe in Tajikistan on a two-day visit to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit session, ARY News reported.

Tajikistan Prime Minister Qahir Rasoulzadeh received Pakistan’s prime minister at airport.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, NSA Moeed Yusuf, Fawad Chaudhry, Ali Zaidi and Abdul Razzak Dawood are accompanied with the prime minister.

Prime Minister Imran Khan during his two-day visit will also meet presidents of Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The prime minister will also visit Presidential Palace in Dushanbe to meet the President of Tajikistan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier left Islamabad to attend summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tajikistan capital Dushanbe.

China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhastan and Uzbekistan will attend the SCO’s council of Heads of State session that will open today and will conclude on Friday.

The focus of the session expected to be Afghanistan issue. The session is expected to urge the United States and its Western allies to properly handle the refugee issues and manage the risk of terrorism spillover and other matters.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will also inaugurate the inaugural session of the Pakistan-Tajikistan Business Forum in Dushanbe.

The summit is also likely to see Iran become a member from an observer, making the SCO to include all major neighbors of Afghanistan and become the most important regional organization on the Afghan issue.