Modi, Putin to meet on sidelines of SCO

By Our Special Correspondent

The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in person at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) regional security alliance scheduled in Uzbekistan's ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.

The two counterparts will discuss trade as well as sales of Russian fertilizers and mutual food supplies, the Kremlin said in a statement. In three years, a fully offline Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit will be held on September 15-16, which will be attended by Prime Minister Modi.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization whose establishment was announced in Shanghai on June 15, 2001 by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Before this was the mechanism of the Shanghai Five.

On June 8-9, 2017, Astana hosted a historic meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization during which the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan were granted member state status of the organization.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on September 13 that Putin would discuss Russia-India cooperation at the United Nations and the G20 with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The dialogue with Modi will also be on the international agenda, the two sides will discuss strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and cooperation in major multilateral formats such as the UN, G20. SCO," said Ushakov. Russian state-affiliated agency Tass.