Bishkek, Aug. 31 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday to attend the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit and hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
A meeting between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled for Monday. The two leaders are expected to review the broader India-Russia bilateral relationship, including the outcome of the recently held India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission meeting in Moscow. The meeting comes days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Putin at the Kremlin during his two-day visit to Russia and conveyed Modi's good wishes to the Russian president. Modi is also likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit, although a separate bilateral meeting between the two leaders had not been formally scheduled at the time of the update.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is also set to meet Modi during his visit to Bishkek. Pezeshkian is attending the SCO summit and the SCO Plus meeting and is expected to hold bilateral discussions with several participating leaders, including Modi. Russia's Putin, China's Xi, Iran's Pezeshkian, Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are among the leaders expected to participate in the summit's plenary session, which will be chaired by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. The SCO, founded in 2001 by China, Russia and four Central Asian countries, has expanded over the years to include India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus, along with the Central Asian members. Ahead of the summit, Modi paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial in Bishkek. The statue had been unveiled by Modi during his 2015 visit to Kyrgyzstan. The prime minister also interacted with members of the Indian and Kyrgyz communities, including people associated with yoga and Indian cultural traditions. He thanked Kyrgyzstan's leadership for the warm welcome and said he would meet various leaders bilaterally during his visit.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.