- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
While all eyes are set on a probable meeting between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, starting Thursday (15), observers are also curious to know whether the Indian leader will meet his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif who will also be present at the same platform.
Pakistan is as crucial a neighbour of India as is China and improving their disturbed ties is in the interest of both the nuclear-armed naighbours. Both India and Pakistan became members of the SCO in 2017 and since then, their leaders have been present at various meetings, including defence, foreign and national security adviser-levels.
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However, if a report from WION is to be believed, any structured bilateral meeting between Modi and Sharif is unlikely in Samarkand. In the past too, leaders from India and Pakistan have been seen sharing the same space at SCO meetings but no talks have happened given the state of the two nations’ relationship.
In 2019, Modi and then Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan were present at the Kyrgyzstan summit of the SCO in 2019, the last time it happened in-person.
Earlier this year, Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto were present at the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but there too, no exchanges happened. Bhutto even told WION that no meeting was planned.
This year, Modi wrote to the new Pakistani prime minister saying that New Delhi would like to have “normal neighbourly relations” with Islamabad calling for “constructive engagement” but also raised the issue of terror, seeking an “environment free of terror and violence”.
More recently, he expressed his grief over devastating floods in Pakistan and Sharif thanked him in response. However, while there was speculation that India could send humanitarian assistance to Pakistan, its ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has shared his sadness at the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. You’ve seen his comments. He has extended heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the injured and all those affected by the natural calamity”.
In August, India made it clear that it would not take any step in terms of “normalisation of trade” after Pakistan expressed its willingness in the wake of the devastating floods to resume bilateral trade with India which was suspended by the former Khan government in 2019.
China’s state-run tabloid Global Times suggested in a piece that the two South Asian neighbours could try to improve their trade ties at the SCO.
“If anything, strengthened trade cooperation will be a likely starting point to improve India-Pakistan relations. There has been a long-term gulf of mistrust between India and Pakistan, and mutual trust can only be enhanced by starting from the area where it is easiest and most beneficial for both sides. Trade is one such area. In fact, although there have been limited economic and trade exchanges between the two South Asian neighbors due to ongoing political tensions, there are still signs indicating that the bilateral trade has the potential,” it said.
It also cited Indian media reports to say that bilateral trade between India and Pakistan has picked sharply in the second quarter of 2022. India’s exports to Pakistan went up by 72 per cent year-on-year to $205 million in the three months ending in June and Pakistan’s exports to India touched $17.6 million in the quarter ending in June, it added, compared to $340,000 in the year-earlier period and $2 million in the previous fiscal year.
According to the Global Times article, Indian media outlets attributed the development to Pakistan’s openness to ease trade tensions with its eastern neighbour.
“Whatever the reason, as long as the two sides are willing to enhance trade cooperation, the SCO will always be the most appropriate platform for them, which will facilitate not only bilateral trade, but also multilateral cooperation,” the article added.
