'Prime minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO summit.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a visit to Tianjin, China, to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Tanmay Lal, secretary (west) at the ministry of external affairs, said on Tuesday.
Sharing the programme elements for the SCO summit in Tianjin, Lal said it includes a welcome banquet dinner on the evening of August 31, with the main summit to be held on September 1.
"And in addition to this, prime minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO summit," Lal told media at a special briefing ahead of Modi's visit to Japan and China.
Highlighting the primary goals of the SCO -- namely countering the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism -- Lal underlined that there is a broader range of sectors of cooperation among the SCO members.
He shared how Modi has consistently participated in previous SCO summits -- 2018 in Chengdao, 2019 in Bishkek, 2020 in Moscow in virtual format, 2021 in Dushanbe in virtual format, 2022 in Tashkent, 2023 in New Delhi virtual format.
Lal highlighted how in recent months, India has participated at several ministerial levels, senior levels, ongoing processes of SCO, which included meetings where the Indian delegation was led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in their relevant SCO formats.
The SCO comprises 10 members. In addition to India, they include Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
India has been a member of the SCO since 2017, while earlier it was an observer since 2005. During the period of its membership, India has held the chair of the SCO council of heads of government in 2020 and of the SCO council of heads of State during 2022-2023.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was on an official visit to India from August 18-19, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and handed over a message and an invitation from Xi for the SCO summit in Tianjin.