All SCO Members, Including Pakistan, Expected To Attend Regional Meet, Stresses India

As India currently holds the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) presidency, it expects all member countries including Pakistan to attend the events under its SCO chairmanship, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.

"We hold the current presidency of SCO. As customary, we extend invites to all SCO countries including Pakistan. We expect them all to attend the events," Mr Bagchi said in response to a question on India's SCO invite to Pakistan.

India has formally sent invitations to all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) including Pakistan and China for the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting which will be held in Goa from May 4-5.

"I think Pakistani officials might have attended such events. I don't know who all have confirmed. We'll let you know closer to the date," Mr Bagchi added while speaking during the MEA weekly media briefing.

The invitation has been extended to SCO members including the new Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.

India took over the chairmanship of the nine-member mega grouping in September of last year and will be holding key ministerial meetings and the summit this year.

"So far there is no confirmation from the Pakistani side whether Foreign Minister Bilawal will attend the meeting or not," sources said.

Relations between the two countries have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson in response to a question on Qatari Naval Officers said he doesn't have any update this week.

On being questioned if any foreign government had approached India regarding the status of Adani, Mr Bagchi said that he isn't aware of any such outreach.

Arindam Bachi said that India during its G20 presidency will showcase various elements including the country's tech and economic success.