Raksha Mantri to chair Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers’ Meeting

NEW DELHI- Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh will chair the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Defence Ministers Meeting on 28 April 2023 in New Delhi. Defence Ministers of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan will participate.

India has invited Belarus and Iran, currently observers in SCO, to participate in the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting. The Defence Minister of Pakistan would be participating virtually. The Ministers will discuss matters related to regional peace and security, counter-terrorism efforts within SCO and effective multilateralism. 

RakshaMantriwill be holding bilateral meetings with the participating Defence Ministers on 27 and 28 April 2023 where bilateral defence-related issues and other matters of mutual interest will be discussed.

India has ancient civilizational, cultural, and spiritual ties with the SCO member countries. India’s membership of SCO in 2017, was, therefore, a reaffirmation of New Delhi’skeenness to deepen these historic ties. India considers SCO as an important regional group to promote multilateral, political, security, economic, and people-to-people interactions in the region. 

India continues to bring more ideas and initiatives to strengthen cooperation amongst SCO countries. Under its Chairmanship, this year, India organized two defense-related activities to enhance interoperability among SCO member states.

The first was a workshop on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and the second was a seminar of SCO countries' defense think tanks on the issue of Armed Forces contributing to Military Medicine, Healthcare, and Pandemics.

India stands committed to taking forward the Agenda of SCO under its chairmanship.