India calls SCO members including Pakistan and China for meet
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New Delhi: India has invited the member nations of the eight-member SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Convention) for a foreign ministers' meeting due in Goa in May. Invitations have gone out to Pakistan and China as well. The meeting will take place in Goa on May 4-5.
Sources in Pakistan confirmed that foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto received the invite but Islamabad hasn't yet decided on attending, reported NDTV. New Delhi's move comes soon after Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif said the country has learnt its lesson from the wars with India.
"We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people… We have learnt our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems. My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let's sit down at the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir," he said during an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV last week.
The SCO also includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India took over the chairmanship of the group in September 2022 and will hold ministerial meetings and the summit in 2023. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia are observers in the regional grouping. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey are dialogue partners.
