New Delhi: India will be inviting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for the annual meeting of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) later this year.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar confirmed to reporters that the invitation will be sent out to all members.
“India will be hosting the SCO heads of government later this year. It is held annually at the prime ministers’ level and discusses the SCO’s program on multilateral and trade cooperation. As per established practice and procedure in SCO, all eight members of SCO, as well as four observer states, and other international dialogue partners, will be invited to attend the meeting,” he said on Thursday at the weekly briefing.
SCO has eight members – India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – and four observer states, Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.
If Khan does accept the invitation, it will be the first time that a Pakistani will visit India since Nawaz Sharif came to New Delhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May 2014.