India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar welcomed his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday for the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in the coastal state of Goa.
Mr Zardari is the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in 12 years.
The two diplomats posed for pictures as they met for the conclave in the western resort state.
Unlike other leaders of the SCO, Mr Zardari will not hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart. The two, however, met briefly and shook hands at Thursday's SCO leaders’ dinner.
Relations between the rival nuclear powers have been tense for decades, but it took a turn for the worse in 2019 after New Delhi unilaterally changed the constitutional status of the disputed region of Kashmir.
The foreign ministers of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are also attending the meeting on Friday where they will discuss several challenges, including global supply chains, terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan.
The SCO is an intergovernment security and economy bloc founded in Shanghai in 2001.
Since its inception, the SCO has mainly focused on regional security issues, its fight against regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. The SCO’s priorities include regional development.
India assumed the rotating presidency last year and will host the leaders’ summit in July.
“The world today is facing a multitude of challenges which have disrupted global supply chains leading to serious impact on the supply of food, energy and fertilisers and cascading effects on developing nations,” Mr Jaishankar said in his opening remarks at the meeting.
“These crises have also exposed credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and efficient manner.”
He urged the member nations to look at the challenges as opportunities to collaborate and address them collectively.
“With more than 40 per cent of the world's population in SCO, our collective decisions will surely have a global impact,” he said.
The Indian diplomat also spoke about the need to combat terrorism.
“The menace of terrorism continues unabated … we firmly believe there can be no justification to terrorism. It must be stopped in all its forms of manifestation including cross-border terrorism. The channel of finances for terrorist activities must be ceased and blocked,” he said.
Afghanistan was also on the meeting's agenda. Mr Jaishakar said that improving the situation in the country, which is controlled by the Taliban, is the responsibility of the SCO.
He urged members to continue their efforts, for the welfare of the Afghan people.
“The unfolding events in Afghanistan remain at the centre of our attention. Our immediate priorities include providing humanitarian assistance, ensuring a truly inclusive and representative government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking and preserving the rights of women, children and minorities,” he said.
