Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar left for Moscow on Monday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting.

Ishaq Dar will lead the Pakistani delegation in the meeting being held in Moscow on November 17-18.

According to a Foreign Office statement, “The CHG will be attended by the heads of government of Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the vice president of Iran and foreign ministers of Pakistan and India.”

It further says that, “In addition to SCO member States, the Heads of Government of Mongolia, Bahrain, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkmenistan and heads of international /regional organizations including Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Euro Asian Economic Union (EAEU), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) will also be attending the meeting.”

The statement says that Deputy PM Dar will highlight “Pakistan’s perspective on important regional and global issues as well as ways to strengthen the Organisation for the benefit of the SCO region” in his address.

“The CHG is the second-highest decision-making institution in the SCO. It provides guidance in the areas of economy, finance, trade, connectivity, commerce, socio-economic cooperation, including the budgetary matters of the Organisation. The SCO CHG adopts Joint Communiqué, statements and important decisions.”