PM Narendra Modi to attend SCO summit in Uzbekistan on Sept 15-16: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday officially announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Samarkand, Uzbekistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on September 15 and 16.

The Ministry in a statement said, “At the invitation of the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 15-16 September 2022 to attend the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).”

It also stated that the SCO Summit will be attended by leaders of SCO Member States, Observer States, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests.

PM Modi is also likely to hold few bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit.

This will be the first in-person summit after June 2019 when the SCO summit was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are among the leaders expected at the summit.

India’s presence at the summit is important because it will assume the rotational presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand summit. Delhi will hold the presidency of the grouping for a year until September 2023. So, next year, India will host the SCO summit which will be attended, among others, by leaders of China, Russia, Pakistan.

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