Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today address the plenary session of the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of State Council summit in Tianjin, before holding a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed.
“Prime Minister will outline India’s approach to strengthening regional cooperation under the SCO framework during the plenary session. Following this, he will meet President Vladimir Putin in a bilateral engagement, after which he will depart for India,” Misri said in a special briefing on Sunday.
PM Modi arrived in Tianjin on Saturday for the two-day summit, which is being held from August 31 to September 1.
On Sunday, he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO summit. Both leaders welcomed the positive trajectory in bilateral relations since their last meeting at the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. They reaffirmed that India and China are “development partners, not rivals,” and stressed that differences should not escalate into disputes.
The two leaders underlined the importance of peace along the border for sustained progress in relations and expressed satisfaction over last year’s disengagement and the maintenance of stability since then. They also pledged to work toward a fair and mutually acceptable resolution of boundary issues, guided by the broader perspective of bilateral relations and long-term national interests.
Discussions also focused on expanding people-to-people ties, including direct flights, visa facilitation, and resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra. PM Modi invited President Xi to attend the BRICS Summit in India in 2026, which Xi accepted while pledging China’s support for India’s presidency.
The SCO currently has 10 members: India, Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, along with several dialogue partners and observers. India joined the organisation in 2017, after being an observer since 2005, and has chaired both the SCO Council of Heads of Government (2020) and the SCO Council of Heads of State (2022–23).
