PM Modi leaves for Bishkek to attend SCO summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan this morning to attend the meeting of Council of Heads of States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization -SCO.

Presidents and Prime Ministers of 8 member countries will participate in this multilateral international forum which will also be attended by 4 head of states as observers.

The SCO is a China-led eight-member economic and security bloc.  In July 2015 in Ufa, Russia, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members and both the countries officially joined SCO as full members during the Astana Summit in 2017.

Important issues including global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and topical issues of international and regional importance will be discussed during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit.

Afghanistan will also be one of



the focus areas in the summit. On the sidelines of CHS meeting in Bishkek, Prime Minister will hold a number of bilateral meetings, including with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Iran Hassan Rouhani.

During his Bishkek visit, Prime Minister will also inaugurate India- Kyrgyz Business Forum on June 14.

The Council of Heads of State- CHS is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation. The CHS meeting is scheduled for today and tomorrow.

This will be the second CHS meeting after India became a member of SCO. Prime Minister Modi had also attended the last CHS meeting in Qingdao (China) on June 9-10, last year. This will be Mr Modi's first multi-lateral summit after his re-election as the Prime Minister.