PM Modi meets Kazakhstan President at SCO summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the sidelines of the 18th summit of the eight-nation Shanghai cooperation Organisation (SCO) in China's Qingdao city.

It is pertinent to mention that India and Pakistan became full members of the group at Astana Summit in Kazakhstan in June last year.

Furthermor, Prime Minister Modi met Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Saturday.

He also met with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon and talked about key sectors of bilateral cooperation.

The recent meetings constitute a part of India's growing engagement with resource-rich Central Asia.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi along with heads of other member states of the SCO inked a number of agreements at the signing ceremony of the 18th SCO Summit at Qingdao International Convention Center.

The SCO leaders signed the Qingdao Declaration and some other agreements on security, economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges.

China's President Xi Jinping addressed a joint press conference following the signing-in ceremony.

PM Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain shook hands after signing of agreements between the SCO nations.

This is the first SCO Summit wherein both India and Pakistan are attending as full-time members.

The final day of the two-day annual summit commenced with a welcome ceremony and a group photo of leaders of the eight SCO member-states.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai 17 years ago and it now accounts for nearly half of the world's population and over 20 per cent of global GDP.

It is by far the largest regional organisation in the world.