Rajnath Singh to leave for Tajikistan to participate in SCO Defence Ministers meet

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to leave for Dushanbe, Tajikistan to participate in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers meeting.

Tajikistan is this year's chair of the grouping and will be holding the SCO heads of state summit in the month of September.

Rajnath Singh's Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe will also take part in the meet. However, there is no planned meet between the two ministers like they met on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Moscow last year.

Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar was in Dushanbe for the Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of SCO States.

Apart from meeting some of the SCO ministers, Jaishnakar had met his Chinese counterpart and held a one-hour-long bilateral meeting with him. During the meeting, EAM conveyed that that unilateral change of status quo of the border area is not acceptable to India.

The discussions between the two ministers focused on the outstanding issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector.

"Highlighted that unilateral change of status quo is not acceptable. Full restoration and maintenance of peace and tranquillity in border areas is essential for development of our ties. Agreed on convening an early meeting of the Senior Military Commanders," the minister said.

( With inputs from ANI )