According to Pakistan's foreign ministry, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's foreign minister, will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) foreign ministers meeting on May 4-5 in India. This announcement comes after weeks-long speculation about his attendance. The meeting will be held in the western Indian coastal state of Goa and will include the foreign ministers of Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and other member countries of the SCO.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch announced the news at a weekly media briefing, stating that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had invited Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the meeting. Baloch added that Pakistan's participation in the meeting reflects its commitment to the SCO Charter and processes, as well as the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities.
The SCO is a regional political and security bloc that was founded in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Over the years, it has become one of the largest trans-regional international organizations. In 2017, India and Pakistan were granted permanent membership to the Beijing-based Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The upcoming meeting will be the highest-level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years and could be an opportunity to improve relations between the two nations. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been strained, particularly since India's airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.In August 2019, the relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated further after India announced the removal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the reorganization of the state into two Union territories.
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