SCO Meet: S Jaishankar leaves for Moscow, likely to meet Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Russia

New Delhi, Sep 08: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar left for Moscow to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on September 10. He is expected to meet Chinese FM Wang Yi on the sidelines of of SCO even as tensions soar in an unprecedented manner between both sides at the LAC in Ladakh. The time of the meeting is being finalised.

While EAM Jaishankar will arrive in Moscow on Tuesday evening with desk officers of China division, Foreign minister Wang will reach the next day to discuss the border escalation in Ladakh. On the way to Russia, Jaishankar will make a stopover in Tehran to meet his Iranian counterpart.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh left for Moscow on Wednesday on a three-day visit to attend a meeting of SCO defence ministers. "The external affairs minister will be visiting Moscow to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers'' meeting which is scheduled on September 10," spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivstava said at an online media briefing.

Asked whether Jaishankar will meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Srivstava said, "Once his engagements are finalised we will let you know."

The SCO meetings are taking place at a time when India and China, two of the bloc''s members, are engaged in a fierce border row in eastern Ladakh.

The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations which accounts for almost 44 per cent of the world population stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea.

The aim of the SCO is to maintain peace, stability and security of the region. India became a member of SCO in 2017.