Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Defense Ministers Meet with fellow member nations in New Delhi on Friday, with Iran and Belarus participating as observer countries.
The SCO is an eight-member political and security bloc that includes Russia and China.
Singh hosted bilateral talks with defense ministers of China, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan on Thursday (April 27) ahead of the defense ministers’ conclave.
The meeting between Singh and China’s Li Shangfu was the first between the defense ministers of the two countries since September 2020 when they held talks on the sidelines of a SCO meeting in Moscow.
It was also the first visit by a Chinese defense minister to India since the violence in the Himalayas began in May 2020.
Singh is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu on the sidelines of the SCO meet on Friday.
