External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting, in Astana, Kazhakstan.
| Photo Credit: PTI

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, raised the issue of Indian nationals in the war zone and pressed for their safe return during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov here.

Mr. Jaishankar arrived here on Tuesday. July 2, to represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

“Good to meet Russian FM Sergey Lavrov in Astana today. Wide ranging conversation on our bilateral partnership and contemporary issues. Noted the progress in many areas since our last meeting in December 2023,” Mr. Jaishankar posted on X.

FMs meet ahead of Modi-Putin talks

The meeting between the two Foreign Ministers happened days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Raised our strong concern on Indian nationals who are currently in the war zone. Pressed for their safe and expeditious return,” he added in his post, which also had photos from the meeting.

The External Affairs Minister also discussed the global strategic landscape and exchanged assessments and views with Mr. Lavrov.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Jaishankar met Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu and discussed expanding Strategic Partnership and India’s increasing engagement with Central Asia in various formats.

He also exchanged views on regional and global issues with Nurtleu, who also holds the portfolio as Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister.

File picture of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will represent India at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Astana next week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to skip it.

Mr. Modi is set to visit Russia from July 8 to 9 in his first trip to that country in nearly five years. After concluding the visit to Russia, he is likely to travel to Austria on July 9 on a two-day trip.

It is learnt that Mr. Modi decided to skip the SCO summit in view of his planned two-nation trip to Russia and Austria. There is no official confirmation on Mr. Modi’s visit to the two countries yet.

The SCO summit to be held on July 3 and 4 is expected to focus on the regional security situation and ways to boost connectivity and trade.

“The Indian delegation at the SCO summit will be led by external affairs minister S. Jaishankar,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing on Friday.

The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict and boosting overall security cooperation among the SCO member countries are expected to figure in the summit.

The SCO comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

Generally, the Indian prime minister participates in the SCO summit.

In a phone conversation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi conveyed to Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev India’s full support for the success of the summit.

Kazakhstan is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current chair of the grouping.

India was the chair of the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in the virtual format in July last year.

India’s association with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. It became a full member state of the SCO at the Astana summit in 2017.

India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan became its permanent member along with India in 2017.