Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is visiting Moscow to attend a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to be held on September 9 and 10.
The invitation to the foreign minister to attend the SCO-CFM was extended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who would also chair the meeting, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday
The SCO-CFM is the highest forum of SCO after the Council of Heads of State (CHS) and the Council of Heads of Government. It deliberates on important regional and international issues and considers documents for approval and adoption by the Council of Heads of State.
Besides Pakistan, SCO’s current membership comprises China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The foreign minister will have bilateral engagements on the side lines of the SCO meeting but diplomatic sources ruled out any interaction between Pakistan and India. Tensions have been running high in the South Asian region with Islamabad and New Delhi ties continued to soar over disputed Kashmir region and the on-going military standoff between China and India along their contested border. According to the FO statement, the Moscow SCO-CFM will consider more than 20 documents for subsequent adoption in the SCO Council of Heads of State. It will also adopt a Joint Communiqué reflecting member states’ unified stance on important regional and international issues.
