The 21st Meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) will be held on Tuesday in the virtual format. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India in the meeting hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The SCO CHG meeting held annually focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the Organization and approves its annual budget. The Meeting will be attended by SCO Member States, Observer States, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Turkmenistan and other invited guests, the ministry of external affairs statement said here on Monday.
India remains actively engaged in various SCO activities/dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as other multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework, it said.
Reports from Beijing said Premier Li Keqiang will host the 21st Meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a media briefing on Monday. Launched in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has eight full members, including its six founding members, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017.
Premier Li, who is set to retire early next year after the major reshuffle of officials following the recent once-in-a-five-year congress of the ruling Communist Party of China, will host the meeting via video link. The SCO heads of the state held their first in-person summit after two years at Samarkand in Uzbekistan last month which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.