
India will hold bilateral meetings with Russia and China on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at Bishkek this week, the Ministry of External Affairs stated during a press briefing on Monday.
The bilaterals will take place when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to attend the meeting of Council of Heads of State (CHS) of SCO from June 13 to 14.
The MEA also revealed that India would be holding a meeting with host nation Kyrgyzstan on June 14
''There will be a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and President Putin, and between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,'' said Gitesh Sharma, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Responding to a question regarding a probable India-Pakistan meeting, or even a bilateral between India and Iran, the Secretary (West), Gitesh Sarma, said that there is limited time available due to which "requests for other bilaterals will be processed as we go along."However, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar firmly outlined that no meeting between India and Pakistan is being organised."
Questions regarding the agenda during the India-China bilateral were also put forth to the officials. While both the representatives abstained from revealing any part of the agenda, they said that "the current global scenario is uppermost in minds," in response to a question on the ongoing trade dispute between China and the United States being discussed during the bilateral.
The SCO summit was described as a "friendly gathering," by Kumar who added that the meeting reflects consensus as the documents are previously negotiated.
"The leaders participating in the Summit are expected to focus their discussions on the global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and also on topical issues of international and regional importance," an MEA statement outlined.
(With inputs from ANI)