Sushma Swaraj meets Xi ahead of Wuhan Summit

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday called on Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Wuhan Summit on April 27-28.

Swaraj called on President Xi along with the rest of the seven foreign ministers of the SCO, which 2018 Summit will be held in June at Qingdao, Shandong Province. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the Qingdao Summit.

Swaraj's meeting with Xi comes a day after the two countries announced a summit meeting between Xi and Modi at Wuhan on April 27-28 to improve bilateral ties.

"China regards boosting the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as one of its diplomatic priorities," Xi said during his meeting with SCO foreign ministers, SCO secretary-general and the director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure Executive Committee.

The SCO foreign ministers will meet in Beijing on Tuesday to finalise the agenda for the SCO summit.

Swaraj is in Beijing on a four-day visit. Earlier, she met Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan. She also met her Kyrgyz and Uzbek counterparts and held deliberations on key areas, including cooperation in trade and investments.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will also attend the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in the city on Tuesday. She is also scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with her Chinese counterpart Lt Gen Wei Fenghe.

India, meanwhile, has ruled out any bilateral meeting with Pakistan's foreign and defence ministers at the SCO Summit.

All About SCO Summit:

1. The SCO Summit is an eight-member political, economic and security bloc.

2. The SCO is headquartered in Beijing

3. The SCO was founded in 2001.

4. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan are the eight members of the bloc.

5. The SCO envisions military cooperation among the member states.

6. The SCO cooperation involves intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia and joint work against cyber terrorism.

7. India and Pakistan became members of the SCO Summit in 2017