PM Modi invited to SCO meeting in Islamabad, confirms Pakistan

Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that it has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting to be held in Islamabad in October.

According to a Dawn report, during a weekly press briefing, the Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed on Thursday that Pakistan had sent invitations to the heads of countries to participate in the meeting on October 15-16.

“An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” she said, adding that some countries had already confirmed their participation in the meeting.

“It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed,” she said.

Baloch said the event will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials’ discussions, which will address financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member states.

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When asked about ties with India, the spokesperson said, “Pakistan does not have direct bilateral trade with India.”

Talking about the 50th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held in Cameroon’s Yaoundé from August 29 to 30, she said foreign secretary will represent Pakistan at the meeting.

“The foreign secretary will present Pakistan’s perspective on Gaza and Jammu and Kashmir there,” she said, adding that he will also discuss “terrorism and other global issues” during the session.

In May last year, then-Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari traveled to India to attend the two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers. He was the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in nearly 12 years.

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Later that month, Bhutto-Zardari described his participation in the event as a “productive and positive decision” during a Senate panel discussion.

“As far as the Kashmir issue, bilateral issues between Pakistan and India, and the responsibilities of multilateralism are concerned, my conclusion after the trip is that it is a productive and positive decision to participate in the event,” he said.

With inputs from agencies