Top state leader Shehbaz Sharif invited unfamiliar dignitaries, including India’s Pastor for Outer Undertakings Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to the supper for the Shanghai Collaboration Association’s (SCO) first day on Tuesday.
The SCO contains China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — with 16 additional nations subsidiary as spectators or “exchange accomplices”.
At its summit in Kazakhstan in 2017, Pakistan became a full member of the SCO. Former PM Nawaz Sharif was there, and he recently expressed hope for reviving ties with India.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will lead the summit in his capacity as the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) Chair at the moment.
Video from the venue captured PM Shehbaz greeting and shaking hands with dignitaries prior to the SCO dinner, including India’s Jaishankar, with whom he briefly conversed.
Jaishankar showed up in Pakistan today — the principal such visit in almost 10 years. After Jaishankar’s plane landed at the Nur Khan Airbase just before 3:30 p.m., images from state-run PTV showed him being greeted by the Director General for South Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ilyas Mehmood Nizami, and other Pakistani officials.
