Pakistan: The Pakistani Ministry reports that Mr. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, is slated to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) gathering of foreign ministers in India next month.

Comprising member nations such as Russia, China, India, and Pakistan, the SCO is a regional political and security alliance. Reports suggest that the two-day meeting is scheduled to commence on May 4th 2023 in the coastal state of Goa in western India.

According to a report on Pakistan’s Dawn website, Ms. Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign office, has stated that Mr. Bhutto-Zardari will be participating in the SCO conference at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Mr. S Jaishankar. “Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” Ms. Baloch remarked.

Mr. Bhutto-Zardari’s visit to India will mark the first time in nearly 12 years that a Pakistani foreign minister has travelled to the country. The last such visit was made by Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, who is currently Mr. Bhutto-Zardari’s deputy in the foreign ministry, in 2011.

In 2019, India’s Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi revoked the partial autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir, which is the country’s only Muslim-majority region, leading to a deterioration in relations between the two countries. Both South Asian nuclear powers claim the Himalayan territory of Kashmir in its entirety, but they each govern only some parts of it.

WORLD ROUNDUP: Record heatwaves kill over 20,000 people in Europe; Report