The National Security Advisor of India, Ajit Doval welcomed the top officials as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) level NSA meeting kickstarted in Delhi.
As India is the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), NSA Doval delivered the opening remarks at the meeting.
"The global security landscape is faced with several challenges on account of development in recent years. The SCO region is also affected by the impact of these challenges. The charter calls upon the member states to have mutual respect for sovereignty, and territorial integrity of states," NSA Doval said during his opening remarks at the 18th meeting of the Secretaries of Security Council of SCO member states.
India became a full member of SCO on June 9, 2017. There are four Observer States viz Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia and six dialogue partners - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
Pakistan and China are likely to attend the SCO-NSA meeting virtually. Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, will attend the annual meeting of the secretaries of security councils of SCO member states, according to a statement by Russian Security Council
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental organization established in 2001 and it comprises eight member states, namely, India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(ANI)