Bishkek: Counter-terror, Afghanistan and ties with central Asian countries will be the top focus of India at the Shanghai cooperation organisation summit that will take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan June 13th to 14th. PM Modi will be in Bishkek for the summit, which will be his first international multilateral engagement in his 2nd term. Gitesh Sarma, secretary west while briefing the media on PM's participation at the summit said,"if you look at the record of previous SCO interactions..terrorism does figures in the deliberations...on contact group of Afghanistan countries of the region are challenged by the situation there and have deep interest in stability of Afghanistan as well" On central Asia, he said, "The way we approach SCO is that it provides as a framework where we can engage with the central asian countries in particular. We have robust relations with each one of them." This is also a bilateral visit to the country and he will be meeting his Kyrgyz counterpart. Remember, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov as SCO chair was invited for the oath-taking ceremony of PM Modi in May. PM Modi will be having bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This will be his first meeting with Chinese leadership after the listing of Masood Azhar as an international terrorist by the United Nations. Secretary west said,"we have excellent relations with Russia and China" MEA meanwhile clarified that there will be no formal bilateral meet between PM Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Both leaders will be face to face for the first time in their present capacity. India became full member of SCO in 2017 and this is the 2nd head of states/govt meet in which New Delhi is participating as a full member. Prime Minister Modi had also attended the last meet in Qingdao ,China in June 2018. SCO represents approximately 42% of the world's population, 22 % of its land area and 20% of global GDP and has 8 members--India, Pakistan, Russia, China and 4 central asian countries of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

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