SCO summit 2018 LIVE updates: New people-to-people mechanism on cards

Modi and Xi are expected to explore ways to deepen ties in areas of trade and investment, besides reviewing overall India-China bilateral cooperation. Catch all the live updates here

11:52 AM

North Korea to be discussed at SCO

 

The SCO leaders are meeting ahead of a much-awaited summit next week between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and the situation in the Korean peninsula may also figure at the meeting, officials said on condition of anonymity. 

11:47 AM

Iran nuclear deal to be discussed at SCO summit   

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is also scheduled to attend the summit, which will give leaders of India, Russia, China and other central Asian countries a chance to deliberate on the Iran nuclear deal. The US had pulled out of the deal last month, triggering sharp reactions from across the globe. 

11:01 AM

'India, China have left Doklam incident behind' 

India's Ambassador to China, Gautam Bambawale, on Friday said the countries have left last year's Doklam flare-up behind and have moved forward to better bilateral ties. "There is no doubt that India-China relations have gone through a transformation after the informal Wuhan summit. We have left the Doklam incident behind and moved forward to better ties," Bambawale said in Qingdao.  

10:55 AM

Officials said India is also likely to focus on the importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO. India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich Central Asian countries.  

10:51 AM

'India's focus on cross-border terror'   

Sources indicated that India's focus would be to include its concerns over cross-border terrorism in the final outcome document of the summit. India has been raising the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in various multilateral forums with an aim to build pressure on Islamabad to dismantle the terror infrastructure operating from that country.  

10:35 AM

'Eurasian G8' 

SCO General Secretary Rashid Alimov is preparing to hold the summit in a "Eurasian G8" format which would "determine the new trajectory of the organisation's further development, taking into account significant changes in the system of international relations and increased global threats and challenges" as per a March 3 release published on the SCO's official website. (Read more here)  

10:32 AM

10:25 AM

India's envoy to China Gautam Bambawale said the two leaders reached consensus in two areas. The first was that India and China are partners in progress and development. "Second, there are many more commonalities between India and China, many more areas where we cooperate with each other than where we differ with each other," he said. 

10:20 AM

'Modi-Xi Wuhan consensus to be reflected in SCO summit'

The consensus reached between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi in Wuhan would be reflected at the Qingdao summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, India's envoy to China Gautam Bambawale said on the eve of the meeting. (Read more here)  

10:14 AM

The bilateral summit between Modi and Xi will be held after the two leaders met for an informal summit on April 27-28 at the invitation of the Chinese leader in Wuhan, China, where they pledged to keep the India-China border quiet and personally guide their respective armies to avert a Doklam-like military stand-off in future. 

Modi, Xi will issue strategic guidance to militaries to ease border tension 

10:00 AM

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9:59 AM

What is the SCO?  

The SCO is a Eurasian inter-governmental organisation, the creation of which was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism. (Read more here)    

9:48 AM

This will be the first time India will be participating in the SCO Summit after being granted full membership of the bloc, along with Pakistan, in June last year. 

9:46 AM