ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will lead Pakistan’s delegation at the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow on November 17-18, the Foreign Office announced on Monday. The invitation for the summit comes from Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
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The meeting will be attended by heads of government from Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, alongside the vice president of Iran and the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India. In addition, leaders from Mongolia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, and Turkmenistan, as well as representatives of regional and international organisations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Euro-Asian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), will also participate.
During the CHG summit, Dar will present Pakistan’s perspectives on key regional and global issues, focusing on ways to strengthen the SCO for the benefit of the region. He is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from other SCO member states on the sidelines of the event.
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The CHG, the second-highest decision-making body within the SCO, provides guidance on matters including economy, finance, trade, connectivity, commerce, socio-economic cooperation, and budgetary decisions. Earlier this year, the SCO held a summit in Tianjin, China, from August 31 to September 1, while Pakistan is slated to host the next SCO summit, though a date has not yet been announced.