SCO Summit: EAM Jaishankar departs for Delhi, thanks Pak PM for 'hospitality'

Pic/X

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Wednesday departed to Delhi from Islamabad after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, news agency ANI reported.

He thanked Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for their hospitality at the SCO Summit.

In a post on X, he said, "Departing from Islamabad. Thank PM Shehbaz Sharif, DPM & FM Ishaq Dar and the Government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies."

Earlier in the day, during his address at the 23rd Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Islamabad, EAM called for "introspection if friendship between the two nations has fallen short" or "good neighbourliness" is missing, reported ANI.

"If we fast-forward from the inception of the Charter to the situation today, these goals and these tasks are even more crucial. It is, therefore, essential that we have an honest conversation," Jaishankar said.

"If trust is lacking or cooperation inadequate, if friendship has fallen short and good neighbourliness is missing somewhere, there are surely reasons to introspect and causes to address. Equally, it is only when we reaffirm our commitment most sincerely to the Charter that we can fully realise the benefits of cooperation and integration that it envisages," he added.

During his SCO Summit address, the minister also termed cross-border terrorism, extremism and separatism as the "three evils" that hinder trade and people-to-people relations between countries, stated ANI, adding that he took a veiled jibe at Pakistan and said that if activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are "hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel."

"We all realise that the world is moving towards multi-polarity. Globalisation and rebalancing are realities that cannot be denied. Cumulatively, they have created many new opportunities in terms of trade, investment, connectivity, energy flows and other forms of collaboration. There is no question that our region would benefit immensely if we take this forward. Not just that, others too would draw their own inspiration and lessons from such efforts," he said in his address at the SCO Summit.

(With ANI inputs)