SCO: Jaishankar to visit Uzbekistan, may meet Chinese counterpart Wang Yi

New Delhi, July 27

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on July 28 and 29 to participate in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers that will prepare for the summit in September. If the summit takes place, it will feature PM Narendra Modi, his Pakistani counterpart and the Presidents of Russia and China.

The foreign ministers will review the ongoing cooperation for expansion of the SCO organisation, said a Ministry of External Affairs news release. Jaishankar is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the margins of the SCO meet, though there is little optimism about a breakthrough on the standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) if the trend of previous discussions between the two last month is any indication. At the last in-person SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in

Moscow in September 2020, which took place three months after the Galwan valley clash, Jaishankar and Wang had met on the sidelines and managed to bring down the temperatures.

Last week, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had underlined the need for both sides to focus on troop disengagement, de-escalation and peace and tranquillity in the border areas to normalise bilateral ties.