India Engaged in SCO Trade Agenda as Jaishankar Heads to Islamabad for CHG Summit

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent India at the 23rd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG), scheduled for October 16 in Islamabad, Pakistan. The meeting will be chaired by Pakistan under its rotating presidency, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed on Tuesday.

The annual SCO CHG meeting primarily focuses on advancing the trade and economic agenda of the Organization, and India continues to be actively involved in the various initiatives and frameworks under the SCO, the MEA added.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will preside over the meeting, marking the second-highest forum within the SCO structure. Pakistan assumed the rotating chairmanship of the CHG for 2023-24 during the previous summit in Bishkek in October 2023.

Key leaders attending the summit include Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Belarus Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Tajik Prime Minister Kohir Rasulzoda, Uzbekistan’s Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Kyrgyzstan’s Chairman of Ministers Cabinet Akylbek Zhaparov, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, and India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, according to reports by Dawn.