(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2020

Topic: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2020

Guest:

Vishnu Prakash, (Former Ambassador)
Alok Bansal, (Director, India Foundation)
Rajendra Harshe, (Foreign Affairs Expert)

Topic Description:

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will be invited to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Government meeting to be held in India at the end of this year. Invitations will be sent to all the member countries of the SCO for the summit to take place later this year. The SCO has eight members – India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and four observer states - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Raveesh Kumar confirmed that the invitation will be sent out to all SCO members. It will be interesting to see if Prime Minister Khan attends the SCO summit or sends a representative on his behalf. In 2014, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif had visited India after an invite for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in was sent to all heads of SAARC countries. Since then no Pak prime minister has visited India. India has scrapped all bilateral meetings with Pakistan and has held the neighbouring country responsible for sponsoring terror attacks in Kashmir.