Islamabad (TDI): Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is set to arrive Pakistan on Tuesday evening (today) to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Islamabad.
Jaishankar will stay overnight in the capital and is scheduled to address the summit on Wednesday.
While bilateral meetings are anticipated, particularly with Russian officials, there are currently no plans for a formal meeting between Indian and Pakistani leaders.
However, Jaishankar may engage with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar during a welcome dinner hosted for the delegates.
In a recent statement, Jaishankar clarified that his visit is primarily for a multilateral event and not for discussions on India-Pakistan relations.
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This marks the first high-level diplomatic trip from India to Pakistan in several years.
The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit was Sushma Swaraj, who attended a conference on Afghanistan in Islamabad in December 2015.
Despite the strained relations, India’s participation in the SCO, a significant economic and security bloc, is deemed important.
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India has been involved with the SCO since 2005 and became a permanent member, alongside Pakistan, in 2017.
The SCO also includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as member countries.
