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PM Modi heads to Uzbekistan, SCO; meet with Putin on the cards
Modi's visit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan includes the SCO Summit and key meetings with world leaders, focusing on India-Russia relations and regional security.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday begin a four-day visit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, where he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit and hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Modi will visit Uzbekistan from August 29 to 30 at President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s invitation before travelling to Bishkek on August 31 for the SCO Summit.
The meeting with Putin will be among several bilateral engagements Modi will hold on the margins of the summit, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday. Details of other meetings will be announced once they are finalised.
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“A meeting is scheduled between both the leaders of India and Russia on the sidelines of the summit,” secretary (West) Sibi George said at a media briefing. George said the two leaders were expected to review the entire gamut of the India-Russia relationship.
Earlier this week, external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Moscow, where he met Putin and co-chaired the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation meeting.
The SCO Summit, which will mark 25 years of the grouping, is expected to focus on the evolving security scenario in the region, the ministry said. Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are among the leaders expected to attend the summit.
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During his address at the summit, Modi will highlight India’s priorities such as security, connectivity and opportunity, the ministry said.
The SCO was established with the primary goal of countering terror, separatism and extremism, which remain a challenge, Sibi George, secretary (West) in the ministry, told a media briefing. India became a full member of the grouping in 2017.
During the visit to Kyrgyzstan, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to attend the opening of the sixth World Nomad Games, which celebrate the cultural heritage of Central Asia.
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In Uzbekistan, which Modi is visiting for the fourth time, he will hold talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership. The two leaders will review cooperation in trade and investment, defence, digital connectivity, energy, education and people-to-people ties, the ministry said.
Modi is expected to visit the Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial in Tashkent and the Mahatma Gandhi Centre at the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies.
