At the conclave hosted by New Delhi on Friday, the defence ministers of India, Russia, China, and other SCO member countries discussed urgent regional security challenges and related issues. The general state of affairs in Afghanistan will likely be reviewed at the meeting, which will be presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting in Delhi is being attended by the Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, Sergei Shoigu of Russia, Colonel General Sherali Mirzo of Tajikistan, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani of Iran, and Colonel General Ruslan Zhaksylykov of Kazakhstan. Khawaja Asif, the defence minister of Pakistan, was supposed to take part in the meeting virtually.
The main focus of the discussions, according to officials involved in the meeting’s planning, will be on regional security situations, including the developments in Afghanistan. Another top priority, according to them, will be to improve coordination between the SCO member nations in order to effectively combat terrorism and extremism. One of the biggest transregional international organisations, the SCO is a significant economic and security bloc. The SCO was established in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In 2017, India and Pakistan were admitted as permanent members. India became an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the grouping’s ministerial-level meetings, which primarily focus on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India has expressed a strong desire to expand its security cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically addresses security and defence issues.
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