India on Tuesday stayed clear of the joint communique by the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) supporting China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) project.
This comes ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's crucial informal meet on Friday-Saturday.
India was not mentioned in the paragraph of the joint communique by the SCO member countries expressing support for Beijing's Belt and Road initiative.
"The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reiterated their support for the 'Belt and Road Initiative' proposed by China.
"All parties support the use of the potential of the countries, international organizations and multilateral institutions in the region to establish a broad, open, mutually beneficial and equal partnership in the SCO region," the statement issued by the SCO foreign ministers said.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which connects China's Kashgar in Xinjiang with Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan, is a key artery of the OBOR project and is progressing at a fast pace.
India firmly opposes the over $50 billion economic corridor of the Belt and Road project which cuts through the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. New Delhi lays claim to the region.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in)
--IANS
gsh/nir
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