Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to reach Goa, India tomorrow evening around 5 pm IST to attend the two day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers meet.
According to reports, while he is going to reach late evening, there is no clarity if he will attend the Gala Reception on May 4 late evening which is being hosted by India’s external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar who has already reached Goa. The Pakistan delegation is expected to leave Karachi at around 2 pm on Thursday.
India is holding the chairship of SCO since September 2022 and has issued official invites to all the member states including China and Pakistan.
Will the Pak FM raise bilateral issues during the meeting?
No. Since this is a multilateral forum, bilateral issues are not raised. According to sources “There is no bilateral meeting expected to take place between him and Dr Jaishankar. Pakistan did not request any bilateral interaction. ”
FM Bilawal Bhutto who is arriving on Thursday evening is expected to leave soon after the SCO FMs meet on Friday (May 5, 2023) late afternoon. This means the minister will be here just for one night. Though nothing major is expected about his presence at the SCO meeting physically, his visit is taking place at a time when cross border terrorism continues across the Line of Control (LOC) and the relations between India and Pakistan are at their lowest.
Financial Express Online has reported earlier that the visit by Pakistan FM is the first since 2011 when the then Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had come. She is also coming as part of the Pakistan delegation as the Minister of State for foreign affairs.
What to expect?
Also, as former Ambassador Anil Trigunayat has told Financial Express Online earlier, the outcomes of this meeting might lead to the presence of Pakistan’s PM at the July Summit.
Pakistan is holding a trilateral meeting later this week where the interim Foreign Minister of Taliban has been invited and the Chinese Foreign Minister will be there too.
Meeting taking place in the backdrop of the geo-political turmoil
The SCO meeting of the Foreign Ministers is taking place amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war; standoff between Indian and Chinese troops enter fourth year along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh; and China continues with its bullying tactics in the region.
Financial Express Online has already reported that Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, are among those who will physically attend the meet in Goa. They will also be attending the Gala Reception hosted by their Indian counterpart Jaishankar on Thursday and the deliberations will take place the next day.
The current situation in Afghanistan — the plight of women and girls under Taliban 2.0, issue of inclusive government in the war torn country; narco trafficking; cross border terrorism, radicalization are among some of the issues that the foreign ministers are expected to discuss. The issues related to food and energy security, implications of the war in Ukraine, trade and investment, connectivity and regional security situation are also on the agenda.
The SCO FMs are meeting close on the heels of the recently concluded defence Ministers meeting last week in New Delhi where Pakistan did not attend the meeting physically. Pakistan decided to attend the meeting virtually but it was attended by the Special Assistant to Pakistan prime minister on defence affairs Malik Ahmed Khan.