Modi to meet Xi, Putin at SCO but not Imran Khan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have bilateral meetings with leaders of Russia and China during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit later this month but not with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"No meeting is being organised between Prime Minister Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. There is nothing more that I can add at this stage," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said here on Monday.

He was responding to queries about possibility of any bilateral meeting with Pakistan.

Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14, said A. Gitesh Sarma, Secretary (West) in the MEA.

Modi will attend the meeting of Council of Heads of State (CHS) of SCO in Bishkek (Kyrgyz Republic) on June 13-14.

It will be the second CHS meeting after India became member of SCO and the first multi-lateral meeting to be attended by Modi in his new term.

India actively took part in the various SCO dialogue mechanisms under the Chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic over the past year.

The leaders participating in the Summit are expected to focus their discussions on the global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and also on topical issues of international and regional importance.

On the sidelines of CHS meeting, Modi's programme in Bishkek will include a number of bilateral meetings.

Modi will hold bilateral meeting with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, who had last month attended his swearing in as SCO chairman.

Sarma said SCO provides a structured platform for India to interact with countries of central Asia.

Answering a query about India raising its concerns about terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Sharma said he would not like to talk of any specific country but "we will do what we need to".

"The issue to terrorism is a threat to us and to other countries. We will like to take foreward our views and our experience," he said.

Sarma said outcome documents reflect consensus but they also reflect concerns of member countries.

He said countries in central Asia as also Russia face threat from terrorism.

He also said that contentious issues were not pushed in a big way at the SCO and focus was on issues on which there is greater scope of cooperation.