The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed the physical presence of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa, India later this week.
This will be his second visit to India within two months and in March he was here for the G20 Foreign Ministers meet. According to the Foreign Ministry of China, the minister will also be visiting Myanmar too.
The SCO meeting will be taking place in Panaji, Goa from May 4-5 and the Chinese Foreign Minister has said that Gang will exchange views with his counterparts from the SCO member states on various international and regional issues, and cooperation in various fields. The meeting is taking place ahead of the July Summit.
The meeting is happening under India’s chairship which it got last September and has sent formal invitations to all members of the SCO, including China and Pakistan for the foreign ministers’ meeting.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov too is confirmed to be present for the meeting later this week. And according to Russian officials the minister will take part in the Council of Foreign Ministers of SCO member states. And there will be exchange of views on various regional and international issues.
He is also expected to have bilateral meetings with Indian Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar as well as his counterparts from member states.
To advance India’s Connect Central Asia policy, SCO is an important grouping and closer cooperation among the member states will help in combating food and energy security. SCO member states cover a huge land mass closer to India’s extended neighbourhood and some are in close proximity to Pakistan and Afghanistan. For India energy security and hydrocarbon, as well as transit routes, connectivity and trade are of interest along with fighting against cross border terrorism and radicalisation.