Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Samarkand late on Thursday evening, just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Head of States meeting, where he will come face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since the April 2020 LAC stand-off, as well as Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Mr. Modi was the last of the leaders of eight SCO members and seven invitees to arrive here, and missed both the Pre-Summit dinner hosted by Uzbekistan President Shovkat Mirziyoyev and tree-planting ceremony that all the leaders other than President Xi undertook, leading to speculation that Mr. Modi’s late arrival was meant to avoid any inconvenient “photo-ops” while relations with China and Pakistan remain tense.
Mr. Modi’s absence was felt particularly as other leaders held a number of bilateral meetings on Thursday, including a highly anticipated meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the war in Ukraine began. Mr. Xi held eight bilateral meetings in all and Mr. Putin met with six other leaders, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Meanwhile, Mr. Sharif, who is at the SCO seeking support over the flood situation in Pakistan, held seven bilateral meetings.
