The 13th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of State Summit will take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on September 13.
Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s advisor on foreign policy and national security, Sartaj Aziz, are expected to meet on the sidelines of this Summit. They are expected to discuss the recent incidents of ceasefire agreements on the India-Pakistan border. According to reports, a deal to de-escalate tension along the Line of Control between the two countries, is in the works. The Indian External Affairs Minister will also visit Uzbekistan on his way back to New Delhi from the Summit.
The SCO is a six-country multilateral body focused on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. The precursor of the SCO was the ‘Shanghai Five,’ constituted by China, in 1996, to address border security issues with four of its neighbours. The SCO in its present form was founded in by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at the Summit in Shanghai, in 2001.
India, Iran and Pakistan became Observer Members of the Organization at the 2005 Astana Summit. Subsequently, Mongolia was also inducted as an Observer, while Sri Lanka and Belarus became ‘Dialogue Partners.’ So far, Turkmenistan has been participating in SCO summits as a special invitee. At the Summit held in Beijing last year, Afghanistan became an Observer member and Turkey, a Dialogue Partner.