CONTEXT

• Several important issues including counter-terrorism, extremism and multilateral economic cooperation will be discussed during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO Summit to be held on 14th of this month at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be reaching Bishkek on 13th June to attend the meeting.

BACKGROUND

• SCO is a structured platform for India to engage with Central Asian Countries.
• There are eight countries including India in the SCO.
• The Prime Minister will have bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
• This will be Prime Minister’s first multi-lateral summit after the polls
• Afghanistan will be one of the focus areas in the summit.
• No meeting is planned between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan on the sidelines of SCO Summit.