BEIJING: Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif is due to reach Beijing on Sunday for participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on 24 April.
Khawaja Asif is set to meet SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov and foreign ministers of other SCO member states on April 23, sources say.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will chair the SCO meeting which will be attended by the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and India. Rashid Alimov and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Executive Committee Director Yevgeniy Sysoyev is will also be present at the meeting which will lay plans for the SCO summit in June this year in China’s Qingdao city.
The Chinese foreign minister is also expected to meet Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and convince her to review India’s policy on the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mongolia, Iran and Afghanistan have an observer status in the SCO while Turkey, Sri Lanka and Belarus are dialogue partners.
The SCO was founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 2001.