Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Moscow, the Russian capital, on Monday to attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Foreign Minister Dar was received by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, Deputy Director of State Protocol Aleksander Prusov, Deputy Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexei Surovtsev and officials of the Pakistani Embassy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FO) said it would lead the Pakistani delegation at the summit, to be held on November 17-18, at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Vladmirovich Mishustin.
“The CHG will be attended by the heads of government of Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the vice president of Iran and the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India,” the statement said.
Furthermore, in addition to SCO member states, the meeting will also be attended by the heads of government of Mongolia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkmenistan, along with those of regional/international organizations including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Democratic Socialists of America.
“In his address to the SCO CHG, the Deputy Prime Minister will share Pakistan’s perspective on important regional and global issues as well as ways to strengthen the organization for the benefit of the SCO region,” the statement added.
Dar will also hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries on the sidelines of the summit, the FO added.
The CHG is the second most important decision-making institution of the SCO and provides guidance in the areas of economy, finance, trade, connectivity, trade and socio-economic cooperation, including the organisation’s budgetary issues, according to the FO. The SCO CHG adopts joint communications, statements and important decisions.
The SCO held a summit in Tianjin, China, from August 31 to September 1 earlier this year. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced in September that Pakistan would host the next SCO summit, but did not provide a date.
