New Delhi, Aug 23: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Tashkent, Uzbekistan from August 23 to 25 to attend the Annual Meeting of the Defence Ministers' of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) the Member States.
The meeting is expected to be attended by Russia, China and Pakistan. Other members of the SCO such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and the hosts, Uzbekistan are also expected to take part in the meeting.
During the Annual Meeting, Defence Cooperation issues among the SCO Member States will be discussed and it is expected that a joint communiqué will be issued after the deliberations. Singh's address at the meeting is slated to be held on August 24.
Singh will also meet his Uzbekistan counterpart Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbanov, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is also the host country. In addition, meetings are also scheduled with Defence Ministers' of some other Member countries of SCO on the sidelines of this meeting, where bilateral issues and issues of mutual interest will be discussed.
Also Read: At SCO meet, Jaishankar highlights potential of the Chabahar port
During the stay in Tashkent, the Minister shall pay homage at the monument of Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and meet Indian Diaspora in Uzbekistan.
It is pertinent to mention that this SCO meet is scheduled before the SCO Summit that will take place in next month, which is likely to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan. It will be the first in-person meeting between him and Prime Minister Modi since the India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
Also Read: Rajnath Singh discuss defence co-operation with his Belarusian counterpart on sidelines of SCO in Dushanbe
In 2020, at the SCO in Russia, China requested a meeting with Singh which lasted for around two and a half hours and some progress in military talks had been made. However, last year's meeting did not have any definitive results.