Preparing schedule of Putin's bilateral meetings during SCO Summit in China: Kremlin

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit with the Kremlin confirming on Wednesday that the Presidential office is currently preparing a schedule of the leader's bilateral meetings which will be held on the sidelines of the event.

When asked whether Putin will hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of SCO Summit, Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov responded, "We are currently preparing a schedule of bilateral meetings, which will need to be included in the events that will be organised by our Chinese friends. Once this is finalised, we will inform you," Russia's Tass reported.

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The SCO Summit is scheduled to be held in China's Tianjin on August 31-September 1. Putin and leaders of over 20 member states of the organisation will attend the summit in Tianjin. The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation established in Shanghai on June 15, 2001.

The SCO member states are: China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus. The SCO has two observer states — Afghanistan and Mongolia and 14 dialogue partners, including Turkey, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, the Maldives, Myanmar and the United Arab Emirates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also visit China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the SCO Summit in Tianjin. He will be travelling to China after concluding his two-day visit to Japan, later this week.

"On the sidelines of the Summit, Prime Minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several leaders attending the Summit. India has been a member of SCO since 2017. It held the presidency of the Council of Heads of State of SCO during 2022-23," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated.

While addressing a special press briefing on PM Modi's visit to China and Japan on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that PM Modi will be holding a number of bilaterals on the sidelines of the SCO Summit and the work continues to finalise those meetings.

When asked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Russian President Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, Misri responded, "Look, as always happens with regard to such events, there will be a number of bilateral meetings that will be organised on the sidelines. We are still working through the finalization of those meetings and will keep you updated and brief you in any case on the proceedings in those meetings. I think ahead of the meetings, it might be a bit forward of me to anticipate and say what will be discussed and will not be discussed in the meetings."