Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Samarkand on Thursday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which is set to deliberate on regional security challenges, boosting trade and energy supplies among other issues.
TheSCOis holding its first in-person summit in Samarkand in Uzbekistan after two years.
The summit will also see the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Economic cooperation between Russia and China will continue to strengthen, reaching new heights in the near future, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit while meeting with China's leader, Xi Jinping, RT reported.
"Multifaceted ties between our countries are actively developing. Last year, the trade turnover increased by 35 per cent and exceeded $140 billion," Putin said, adding that in the first seven months of this year, the volume of mutual trade grew by another 25 per cent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi here on the sidelines of theSCOSummit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand and expressed his happiness about Tehran joining the eight-member grouping.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia welcomes energy cooperation with China and Mongolia.
President Putin was speaking at a trilateral meeting with the leaders of China and Mongolia at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Uzbekistan.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Beijing was willing to work with Moscow as "great powers" during his first trip overseas since the early days of the pandemic.
"China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil," Xi told Putin during a leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders at theSCOsummit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Friday that is set to deliberate on regional security challenges, boosting trade and energy supplies among other issues.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, including with Putin, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev among other leaders. There is no confirmation over his possible bilateral with Xi.
Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping gathered with other Asian leaders in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand on Thursday for a summit touted as a challenge to Western global influence.
Putin and Xi were being joined by the leaders of India, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and several other countries for the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Uzbek city on Thursday and Friday.
The main summit day will be Friday, but a meeting of the Chinese and Russian leaders later Thursday is set to be closely watched, with talks about the conflict in Ukraine expected.
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the cooperation among countries sanctioned by the United States will make them "stronger".
"The relationship between countries that are sanctioned by the US, such as Iran, Russia or other countries, can overcome many problems and issues and make them stronger," Raisi said in a meeting with Putin in Uzbekistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed growing ties with Tehran as he met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of a regional summit on Thursday.
"On the bilateral level, cooperation is developing positively," Putin said, as Moscow looks to use the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan to show it is not isolated internationally despite the conflict in Ukraine.
"At the SCO Summit, I look forward to exchanging views on topical issues, expansion and deepening cooperation within the grouping. A number of decisions for mutual cooperation arelikely to be adopted in areas of trade, economy, culture and tourism," PM Modi said ahead of his visit to Samarkand.
Iran has signed a Memorandum of Obligations to become a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday, as Tehran seeks to overcome economic isolation amid USsanctions.
"By signing the document for full membership of the SCO, now Iran has entered a new stage of various economic, commercial, transit and energy cooperation," Hossein Amirabdollahian wrote on his Instagram page.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday arrived in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to attend the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, during which he is scheduled to meet other world leaders in attendance, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, Sharif will separately meet Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tajikistan President Imomali Rehmon, Dawn news reported.
Besides Putin, the Pakistani leader is also scheduled to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.
However, Foreign Office Spokesman Asim Iftikhar had earlier confirmed that Sharif had no plans to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will come face-to-face on Friday for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020 frayed ties between the Asian rivals.
Modi will fly to the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Thursday for a summit of the regional security group known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will also be attended by Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The event comes after Indian and Chinese soldiers this week disengaged at a disputed area along a remote western Himalayan border after more than two years of a standoff. Modi and Xi have not spoken to each other since the standoff began.
India's foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra told a news conference on Thursday that Modi would have bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit on Friday but declined to confirm a one-on-one with Xi.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for Uzbekistan to attend the SCO summit, India on Thursday said it expects discussions at the forum to cover topical issues, trade, connectivity and regional cooperation.
Modi is scheduled to depart for the Uzbek city of Samarkand this evening for a 24-hour visit.
At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said Modi will have bilateral meetings with the Uzbek president and some other leaders on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
There's a deep understanding andappreciation within SCO countries of the challenges of terrorism and theneed to come together to form ways for practical cooperation, Indian Foreign SecretaryVinay Kwatra said.
PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with the President of Uzbekistan and some other leaders on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. The PM's participation in the Summit is a reflection of the importance that India attaches to the SCO andits cause, Indian Foreign SecretaryVinay Kwatra said, without elaborating on whether PM Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping or Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif.
Kwatra added that media would be informed about the PM's schedule as and when it is made.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Uzbek city of Samarkand for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Russia's Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
Putin is set to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as well as a number of other leaders at the event on Thursday and Friday.
Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping gather with other Asian leaders in the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand from Thursday for a regional summit touted as a challenge to Western global influence.
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres projected a gloomy picture of a world in "great peril" on Wednesday as he demanded immediate action on many fronts, from climate change to raging conflicts.
At a news conference ahead of the General Assembly's high-level meeting that starts next week, he said: "Our world is blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate, and shamed by poverty, hunger, and inequality; conflicts and unrest continue to rage."
China's President Xi Jinping visited Uzbekistan on Wednesday, state media said, ahead of a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here (in Samarkand) Wednesday evening to pay a state visit to Uzbekistan and attend the 22nd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)," the official Xinhua news agency said.
The SCO -- established in 2001 as a political, economic and security organisation to rival Western institutions -- will bring together Xi and Putin, as well as leaders from India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and other ex-Soviet Central Asian countries.
The trade turnover between Russia and India witnessed an "unprecedented growth" in the first half of 2022 and reached over $11 billion, which allows the likelihood of achieving the goal of bringing the level of mutual trade to $30 billion by 2025, Russia's top diplomat in India said on Wednesday.
Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov made the remarks ahead of the meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan this week where the two leaders are expected to discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20.
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