BEIJING: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday as he represented Pakistan in a joint call by the foreign ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries.
The SCO, an influential 10-member Eurasian security and political alliance, includes China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran. Its foreign ministers’ meeting paves the way for the upcoming leaders’ summit, which China will host this autumn in Tianjin.
Sharing his thoughts on social media platform X, Dar said he was “delighted” to meet President Xi at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People before the SCO proceedings, conveying the “warm greetings of Pakistan’s leadership, government, and people.”
“As iron-clad brothers and all-weather strategic cooperative partners, we remain committed to deepening Pak-China enduring friendship and advancing shared regional goals,” he posted.
President Xi, while welcoming the SCO delegations, highlighted the importance of regional cooperation under the organisation’s umbrella, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).
Later in the day, Dar reached Tianjin along with other foreign ministers to lead Pakistan’s delegation at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting.
Dar had arrived in Beijing the previous night, where he was received at the airport by Ambassador Yu Hong and other senior officials of China’s Asian Affairs Department, as well as Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Khalil ur Rehman Hashmi.
Top diplomats including India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, and Iran’s Abbas Araghchi have also travelled to China to attend the high-level gathering.
Meetings with SCO Counterparts
On the sidelines of the joint call on President Xi, Dar held separate meetings with the foreign ministers of several SCO member states. In his post on X, he described the discussions with his Iranian, Uzbek, and Belarusian counterparts as “good exchanges of views for strengthening regional understanding and cooperation in such challenging times.”
He also met Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu and Kyrgyzstan’s Zheenbek Moldokanovic. The meetings reaffirmed their shared commitment to enhancing bilateral ties and exploring broader avenues of cooperation.
According to the Foreign Office, Dar is scheduled to hold further bilateral talks with his counterparts from various SCO nations during his visit to China, focusing on deepening Pakistan’s diplomatic and economic engagement within the regional bloc.
