India is hosting the meeting of the council of heads of government of the SCO for the first time.
Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will be invited to India to attend the annual meeting of the council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Indian foreign ministry said on Thursday.
“As per the established practice and procedure within Shanghai Cooperation Organisation , all eight members of SCO as well as 4 observer states and other international dialogue partners will be invited to attend the meeting,” foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told a weekly news briefing on Thursday.
India is hosting the meeting of the council of heads of government of the SCO for the first time.
The SCO, a China-dominated grouping, was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Officials have said it would be for Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to decide if he accepts the invitation and travels to India or sends a representative. There have also been instances of the foreign ministers of countries attending the SCO heads of government meetings in the past.
India had been an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO in June 2017.
Prasanta Patnaik