OREANDA-NEWS Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding a meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Telegram channel reported.

"Sergey Lavrov is holding a meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar on the sidelines of a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," the statement said.

Earlier, the Tribune newspaper, citing sources, reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make a day trip to Moscow on July 8. Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, in turn, told reporters that the Indian Prime minister's visit to Russia would take place, active preparations were underway, and the parties would announce the dates in agreement. As Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, said on July 2, the visit "is in the final stage of preparation."

The SCO Summit is being held on July 3-4 in Astana under the slogan "Strengthening multilateral dialogue - striving for sustainable peace and development." The participants of the event plan to sign a package of 24 joint documents, as well as adopt a final declaration and statement confirming the commitment of the participants of the association to the principles of good neighborliness and unity.

The SCO is an international organization founded in 2001. It includes India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia, the partner countries are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, UAE, Turkey and Sri Lanka. In July 2023, at the SCO summit in New Delhi, Iran became a full member of the organization. In the same place, Belarus signed a memorandum of obligations in order to obtain the status of a member state of the organization. Belarus is expected to become a full member of the SCO at the summit in July this year.