Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar welcomed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday as the latter arrived at the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Minis\u00adters (CFM) in Goa.
\nThe meeting of the CFM was scheduled to begin in the morning and by noon, the “decision document” will be signed, which will be followed by a working lunch.
\nFM Bilawal \u2014 who is leading the country’s delegation \u2014 arrived in Goa on Thursday to attend the the two-day meeting of the SCO CFM.
\nMeanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said India has given Pakistan no reason to complain regarding Bilawal\u2019s visit to attend SCO moot in Goa.
\n\u201cThey haven\u2019t given us a chance to complain. All is well so far,\u201d she said.
\nWhen asked if Bilawal’s handshake with his Indian counterpart Jaishankar was reflective of past bitterness, Baloch said: \u201cYou are giving it a lot of importance. It was a routine formality.\u201d
\nA day earlier, Bilawal arrived in the Indian city on his first-ever visit to India, hoping for a “successful” meeting of the SCO foreign ministers.
\nFollowing his arrival, Bilawal became the first Pakistani foreign minister who visited the neighbouring country after a gap of nearly 12 years.
\nSpeaking to the media after landing in Goa, the foreign minister said: “I am happy that I have reached here in Goa to attend the SCO meeting. I hope that the SCO CFM will be a success.”
\nThe spokesperson further\u00a0said that a host welcomed Bilawal like they did for other foreign ministers.
\nResponding to a question regarding Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s visit to India in July to attend the SCO summit, the FO spokesperson said it is too early to say anything at the moment.
\nDuring the visit, Bilawal \u2014 alongside his delegation \u2014 is set to engage with several of his counterparts from different nations.
\nIn a video message that he posted on Twitter, the foreign minister said he is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Then, he will meet Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov.
\nFollowing the meetings, Bilawal is set to attend a dinner in which foreign ministers from all the nations will be present. After that, he is set to engage with media personnel for interviews.
\n‘No justification for terrorism’
\nDuring the moot, Dr Jaishankar said: \u201cAs SCO chair we’ve initiated an unprecedented engagement with SCO observers and dialogue partners by inviting them to participate in more than 14 social-cultural events.\u201d
\nTalking to the participants, he said that the SCO platform was in its third decade of existence.
\n\u201cThis is an opportune time for reform and modernisation of the SCO to keep it relevant in a rapidly reforming world,\u201d he said, adding that he was pleased to note that \u201cdiscussions for reform and modernisation have already commenced.\u201d
\nFurthermore, the host reiterated his country\u2019s \u201clong-standing\u201d demand that English be made the third official language of the moot. At the moment Russian and Mandarin are the languages used at the form officially.
\nDr Jaishankar contended that using English would enable a deeper engagement from English-speaking states and take the SCO to reach a larger international platform.
\nHe also shared that progress had been made of including Iran and Belarus as full members of the SCO.
\nDuring his speech, the host also discussed the rise of terrorism in the world.
\n\u201cWhile the world faced COVID-19 and its consequences, the menace of terrorism continues unabated,\u201d he said, adding that taking eyes of this menace is detrimental to the security interests of all.
\nDr Jaishankar added that there was \u201cno justification for terrorism\u201d and that it must be stopped in \u201call its forms and manifestations\u201d including cross-border terrorism.
\n\u201cChannels of financing terror must be seized and blocked without distinction,\u201d he stressed, adding that combatting terrorism was one of the original mandates of the SCO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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