PM Modi's mega Global South outreach on SCO sidelines

New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi in a major outreach to the Global South held meetings with several leaders from Central Asia, Eurasia, South and South East Asia on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin on Sunday to expand economic and strategic partnerships.

While Modi held a structured bilateral meeting with the Myanmar leader, he held pull asides with the leaders from Vietnam, Laos, Nepal, Maldives, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Egypt.

During his meeting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission of Myanmar, the Prime Minister noted that India attaches importance to its ties with Myanmar as part of its Neighborhood First, Act East and Indo-Pacific policies.

The two leaders reviewed bilateral ties and discussed the way forward on several aspects of bilateral cooperation, including development partnership, defence and security, border management and border trade issues.

The Prime Minister stressed that progress on ongoing connectivity projects would foster greater interaction between the people of the two countries, while promoting regional cooperation and integration as envisioned in India's Act East policy, according to the Indian government readout.

Among Modi's significant meetings were the meetings with the Central Asian and Eurasian leaders where India is seeking new export markets besides harnessing natural resources. The meeting with Nepal Prime Minister could set stage KP Sharma Oli's proposed visit to India in September.