Rajnath Singh reached Russia to attend SCO meeting

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday arrived here on a three-day visit to Russia to attend a crucial meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu on further boosting bilateral defence cooperation. The defence ministers of all eight SCO member nations are expected to deliberate on regional security challenges like terrorism and extremism and ways to deal with them collectively here on Friday, officials said.

The meeting is taking place under the shadow of a fierce border row between India and China, both members of the influential bloc. The SCO comprises eight member states — India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Chinese Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe and Pakistan’s Pervez Khattak

are expected to attend the SCO meeting. Asked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting between Singh and Wei on the sidelines of the SCO event, officials said there is no such plan. Before departure, Singh in a tweet said that issues of mutual interest will figure in his talks with Shoigu.