The foreign ministers of Russia and China held talks with their Indian counterpart on Thursday ahead of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation foreign ministers meeting.
Also on Thursday, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari arrived on his maiden visit to India for the event, marking the first time a Pakistani foreign minister has visited the country since 2011.
The foreign ministers of Central Asian nations will also attend the meeting, which will take place in the coastal state of Goa on Friday.
The SCO is an intergovernmental security and economy bloc formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet states in Central Asia to promote stability in the region and counter western influence from groups such as Nato.
India assumed the rotating presidency of the eight-member group earlier last year and will host the leaders summit in July 2023.
Bilateral talks
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said he had held “wide-ranging talks” with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, which came amid an escalation in attacks on Ukraine by Russia and allegations by Moscow that Kyiv had launched an unsuccessful drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday.
The ministers discussed “bilateral, global and multilateral co-operation” as well as issues pertaining to the G20 and Brics, Mr Jaishankar said.
New Delhi is a long-time ally of Moscow, which is India's largest weapons supplier.
It has resisted pressure from western allies to explicitly condemn Russia’s invasion of its European neighbour, and has instead stressed the need to resolve the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
The two foreign ministers last met in March on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi.
Mr Jaishankar also held “detailed discussions” with China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang on relations between India and China, which remain frozen over border disputes.
“Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” Mr Jaishankar said after meeting Mr Qin.
Tense relations
Relations between India and China are currently tense due to the disputed border in the Himalayan Ladakh region.
Hand-to-hand combat between the rival armies left 20 Indian soldiers dead in 2020, leading to a freeze in diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Beijing.
Several rounds of military talks have failed to resolve the border dispute.
Mr Jaishankar said earlier that relations with China cannot be normalised until there is disengagement on the border.
The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will also attend the meeting on Friday, when Mr Jaishankar will hold bilateral talks with Mr Lavrov and Mr Qin.
But Indian officials have ruled out bilateral talks between Mr Jaishankar and Mr Zardari.
“My decision to attend this meeting illustrates Pakistan’s strong commitment to the charter of SCO,” Mr Zardari said in a video message posted on Twitter while on his way to Goa.
“During my visit, which is focused exclusively on the SCO, I look forward to constructive discussions with my counterparts from friendly countries.”
Bilateral relations between the rival nuclear powers have remained tense for decades but ties further nosedived in 2019 after New Delhi unilaterally changed the constitutional status of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Islamabad had condemned the revocation, calling it a “unilateral and illegal” annexation of the disputed region while lobbying at the UN to pass a resolution against India.
SCO agenda in Goa
The leaders will discuss the situation in Afghanistan, matters concerning regional peace and security, counter-terrorism efforts and effective multilateralism, the government said.
The foreign ministers are likely to focus on preparations for the coming meeting of the Heads of States Council in July.
New Delhi earlier said that it attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the region.
“The ongoing engagement with SCO has helped India promote its relations with the countries in the region with which India has shared civilisational linkages, and is considered India’s extended neighbourhood,” the government said.
The ministers will also hold discussion on the process of admitting Iran and Belarus to the SCO as member states. Both the countries were invited to participate as observer nations in the defence ministers meeting last month.
