- SCO Summit 2024 in Pakistan churns out speculative news
- Pakistan to Host SCO Heads of Governments Meeting in Islamabad, 15-16 October, 2024
- PM Narendra Modi is invited to attend SCO Heads of Governments Meeting, scheduled in capital city, Islamabad, from 15th to 16th of October, 2024
- “MEA hasn’t commented on this matter and would request speculative news in this regard be avoided”, Indian Ministry of External Affairs
- “India has not yet responded to the invitation for participation in the SCO meeting”, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson
By: Muhammad Arif, Editor NSN.Asia
Islamabad: Media speculations ‘India had rejected the invitation to the SCO meeting” are mounting across the social media of south Asian rivals, India and Pakistan, as the later formally sent invitation for SCO Heads of Governments Meeting, scheduled to in capital city, Islamabad,
However, Indian Ministry of External Affairs has reportedly denied these news reports in an official statement stating “We have noticed several outlets are running news that the PM won’t attend a SCO meeting in Pakistan or EAM will attend a SCO meeting in Pakistan. MEA hasn’t commented on this matter and would request speculative news in this regard be avoided,”.
Pakistan, as member of SCO, holds the rotating chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG), and invitation was sent to PM Narendra Modi to attend the two-day SCO Heads of Governments Meeting.
“I can confirm that invitations have been extended to all Heads of Government of SCO member countries, including the Prime Minister of India, for the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This meeting is scheduled to take place in Islamabad. We are not in a position to share the responses at this stage. Further updates will be shared in due course”, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, told the weekly press briefing on Thursday.
“An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi (too)”, she added.
Some countries have already confirmed their participation in the SCO meeting, the official list of attendees has not been released, the statement noted.
India has not yet responded to the invitation for participation in the SCO meeting, she added.
When asked about ties with India, the spokesperson said, “Pakistan does not have direct bilateral trade with India.”
Earlier in 2023, India hosted SCO meeting in a virtual format, and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the meeting through a video link.
Also, Pakistan’s then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India in May 2023 to attend the in-person two-day meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Goa, becoming the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years.
Political tensions between India and Pakistan have remained high over the last few years, primarily over state terrorism and the Kashmir
Since the last 77 years, both India and Pakistan have a long history of strained relations, primarily due to the Kashmir insurgency due to authoritarian rule of India and state sponsored terrorism across Pakistan.
The SCO Islamabad summit will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials’ meetings focused on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member States.
The SCO is a Eurasian economic and security grouping comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization has emerged as a pivotal force is fostering regional and global cooperation under the Silk Road Spirit of mutual respect. Over the past 5 years, mutual trade between the SCO countries increased 1.5-fold — from $336 billion in 2019 to $490 billion in 2023.The main trading partners in the region are China with 64.6 percent of all mutual trade and Russia with 26.2 percent. Kazakhstan’s share is 3.3 percent.
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