PM Shehbaz to attend SCO virtual summit on July 4

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is set to participate in the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State (CHS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be conducted in a video-conference format on July 4, 2023.

The invitation for the Pakistani prime minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Indian Prime Minister in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO, according to a statement from the PM's Office.

The forthcoming CHS, the highest forum of the SCO, will have leaders deliberating on significant global and regional issues, and mapping out the future direction of cooperation among SCO member states.

This year, the SCO CHS will also welcome Iran as a new member of the organisation.

Also read India move surprises Pakistan, other SCO members

The participation of the prime minister in the CHS reflects the high importance that Pakistan attributes to the SCO, the PM Office said. The SCO is viewed as a crucial forum for regional security and prosperity and provides a platform for increased engagement with the region.

Earlier this month, Pakistan and other SCO members were surprised over the India’s sudden move to host the summit in July virtually instead of in-person.

“It was a surprise for everyone,” a Foreign Office official had said reacting to the announcement by New Delhi.

The official, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that Pakistan came to know about the decision through a letter written by India to SCO members including Islamabad on Tuesday.

The official said Pakistan’s initial perception was that India decided not to hold the summit in-person possibly because of the lack of confirmation by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to attend the event in New Delhi.

If both the Chinese and Russian presidents skipped the summit in-person, that would have been a diplomatic embarrassment for India, according to the official.

India is the current president of the SCO, which comprises Russia, China, Pakistan and key Central Asian states. It assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit on September 16, 2022.

(With input from APP)