Sitharaman in Kyrgzstan for SCO Defence Ministers meet

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday reached Kyrgzstan for a meeting of the Defence Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries, an official said.Sitharaman was received by a senior Kyrgz defence official at the Bishkek airport and served traditional breads of the Central Asian country in welcome, a Defence Ministry official said. Kyrgzstan is currently chair of the regional security grouping that comprises Russia, China, the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgzstan as well as Pakistan, which became a member along with India in 2017. During her three-day visit, she will attend the ministerial meet on Monday which will discuss ways to increase cooperation among the eight SCO members to deal with emerging security challenges, especially extremism and terrorism, in the region. Sitharaman is also slated to have bilateral meetings with some of her SCO counterparts before returning to India on Tuesday.
--IANS vd