NSA Ajit Doval meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, stresses need to counter terrorism

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing duing his (Doval) visit to China to attend the 20th Meeting of the SCO Security Council Secretaries, said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday. 

The ministry said that during the meeting, both sides reviewed recent developments in India-China bilateral relations and underscored the need to promote the overall development of India-China bilateral relations, including by fostering greater people-to-people ties.

“NSA also emphasised the need to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations to maintain overall peace and stability in the region,” the MEA said.

The ministry said that views were also exchanged on other bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

“NSA noted that he looked forward to meeting with Wang Yi in India at a mutually convenient date for the 24th round of the Special Representative (SR) Talks,” the MEA said.

Earlier, India called for a reference to the Pahalgam terror attack in one of the documents to be presented during the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) under the chairmanship of China.

Meanwhile, Pakistan also pushed for a mention of the hijacking of the Jaffar Express and a recent bus attack carried out by the Baloch rebels in the same document.

According to the reports, India has urged that the official outcome statement of the upcoming SCO summit should include a condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 tourists were brutally killed by heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba's offshoot, The Resistance Front.

Sources said that serious discussions are underway to include India's proposal to mention the terror attack in the document, as any failure to do so, may undermine the SCO proceedings.

The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai. The member states of SCO include India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

Picture Courtesy: IANS