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By India Today News Desk: The Chinese Defence Minister, Li Shangfu, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, are expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, which will be hosted by India next week.
The meeting, scheduled for April 27 and 28, will be attended by defence ministers of SCO member countries, including China and Russia, except Pakistan.
While there is no confirmation on the in-person participation of Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, he is expected to join the meeting virtually.
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The SCO defence ministers’ meeting will discuss regional security issues, including the threat of terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan.
The visit by Li, if it takes place, would come amid the three-year border standoff in eastern Ladakh. The SCO defence ministerial meeting in New Delhi would be followed by the foreign ministerial meeting of the grouping in Goa on May 4 and 5.
Foreign ministers of all SCO countries, including Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, are scheduled to attend the meeting. Pakistan has already announced that Bhutto Zardari would travel to India to attend the meeting.
The SCO was founded in 2001 by Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan and has since grown to become one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.
India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
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(With inputs from PTI)
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