Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to lead India at 25th SCO Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe

Key facts

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will represent India at the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), to be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on October 19-20.
• The meeting will focus on strengthening multilateral cooperation among SCO member states in trade, economy, investment, connectivity, innovation and cultural-humanitarian exchanges.
• The forum is expected to review ongoing cooperation initiatives and consider decisions on the SCO's financial and institutional functioning.
• The previous CHG meeting was held in Moscow on November 18 last year, where External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represented India.
• The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017, and its other members include Iran and Belarus.
• In April, Rajnath Singh attended the SCO defence ministers' meeting at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.