EAM S Jaishankar to represent India at SCO heads of govt meeting

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Thursday.

The meeting is expected to deliberate on a range of pressing regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

"The 20th Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) will be held on November 25 in Nur-Sultan in virtual format under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India in the meeting," it said in a statement.

The SCO-CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the bloc and to approve its annual budget.

The meeting will be attended by the heads of government of the SCO member states, observer states and secretary-general of the SCO. The executive director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Turkmenistan and other invited guests are also expected to attend the meeting.

"India is actively engaged in various SCO activities/dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as other multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework," the MEA said.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Over the years, it has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.