Modi likely to have bilateral meetings with Putin during SCO summit

TASHKENT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to have bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, sources said.

"PM Modi's bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev are almost fixed and the meetings will take place on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand," a source told ANI.

Sources said it will be the first meeting between PM Modi and the Russian President since the Ukraine crisis. The two leaders have spoken to each other over the phone after the crisis began.

The Prime Minister would also have other bilateral meetings during the summit which begins on September 14 at Samarkand in Uzbekistan. The Russian President and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also likely to meet on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

The Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat had said earlier that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit and hold bilateral meetings with several leaders.

"Leaders of SCO member countries are meeting after two years due to the COVID pandemic. Some bilateral meetings will take place on the sidelines of the SCO but the programme of the meetings will be finalised in due course," Ambassador Prabhat had told ANI in an exclusive interview.

"Economic cooperation in the SCO is an important question, which, of course, will be discussed in the SCO meetings. When we are meeting with central Asian countries, we discuss connectivity which will promote trade, investment and other exchanges between Indian and central Asian countries," he told ANI.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi are also expected to attend the summit. Uzbekistan is the chair of SCO 2022 and India will be the next chair of the SCO.