Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Thursday on a two-day trip during which he will attend the 22nd annual meeting of the Council of Heads of State (CHS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif are also accompanying the premier. Uzbekistan PM Abdulla Aripov received Shehbaz upon his arrival at the airport.
Shortly after arriving, the prime minister visited Khizr Complex and paid his respects at the mausoleum of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov.
On the first day of his two-day visit, the prime minister will hold separate meetings with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon.
The prime minister is scheduled to meet other world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.
However, Foreign Office Spokesman Asim Iftikhar earlier told Dawn PM Shehbaz had no plans to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
An official, when contacted, said though a brief courtesy meeting between the two was possible, they would not be holding talks as none of the two sides had sought a meeting.
