The ongoing intensive engagement with Russia and Central Asia may set the tone for the first post-Covid in-person summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries next month in Uzbekistan. The latest in the engagement was Deputy NSA Vikram Misri’s visit to Uzbekistan, where he engaged in bilateral talks as well as participated in the SCO NSAs meeting in Tashkent. “We discussed a wide range of issues on the Uzbek-Indian agenda as well as interaction within the framework of multilateral structures, in particular the SCO,” tweeted Acting Uzbek Foreign Minister and former SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov after meeting Misri.

The Indian embassy in Tashkent said Misri and Norov discussed advancing bilateral security and defence cooperation. At the SCO NSAs’ meeting, Misri called for combating terrorism, terror-financing, transnational organised crime, illicit drug trafficking and strengthening information security.

His visit to Uzbekistan was preceded by trip to Moscow by Doval, where he met his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev to discuss Afghanistan as well as transnational terrorism. His other meeting with Russian Deputy PM Denis Manturov was equally significant as he is the minister in charge of the futuristic weapons industry.