Combating terrorism is one of the main objectives of the SCO: S. Jaishankar

GOA: Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar welcomed Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. Meanwhile, there was no bilateral conversation between the two. Bilawal Bhutto arrived in Goa yesterday to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and became the first foreign minister of Pakistan to visit India in nearly 12 years. This is the first such high-level visit to India from neighboring Pakistan since 2011.

In the meeting, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that terrorism has to be stopped at all costs. Jaishankar said, "The fury of terrorism is unabated. We believe that terrorism cannot be justified in any way. It must be stopped in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism. Combating terrorism is one of the main objectives of the SCO".

He said, "In this meeting, I am happy that the discussion on reform and renewal of SCO has started." Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met face to face on Friday and Jaishankar welcomed Bilawal Bhutto in the meeting.

Apart from this, Foreign Minister Jaishankar met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. General Secretary Zhang Ming also attended the meeting. Foreign ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are also participating in this meeting. Established in 2001, the organization aims to promote security cooperation, combat ethnic and religious extremism, and promote trade and investment.