‘Not appropriate to…’: MEA on Bilawal Bhutto's participation in SCO meeting
MEA spokesperson spoke about the Pakistan foreign minister's visit to India to attend the SCO summit and possible bilateral meeting.
After reports of Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari heading his country's delegate to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, the Union external affairs minister on Thursday said it will not be appropriate to focus on a particular member and said India, as the host, has been inviting all the SCO member states for the events that are underway.
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MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said similar invitations have been extended to all SCO member states and that ‘It would not be really appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country’. He further added that it would be premature to point at any bilateral meeting between the two countries, however, he said that Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such multilateral meetings.
"Regarding the request for bilateral meetings, I think, it is premature. Let's see the full participation. Usually, EAM does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as it can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings. You saw that on the occasion of the G20 Foreign Minsiters' meeting," Bagchi said.
Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson Zahra Baloch had earlier confirmed Bhutto-Zardari's visit to India to attend the SCO- Council of Foreign Ministers meeting.
"Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," Baloch said at a presser.
The meeting will be held on May 4 and 5 in Goa. Apart from Bhutto, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov are also expected to attend the meet.
(With ANI inputs)