Jaishankar to hold talks with Chinese FM Qin, Lavrov, host Pakistan FM in Goa

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will hold talks with Foreign Ministers of China and Russia, and Uzbekistan and Secretary General of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Zhang Ming on May 4. This is the first time Mr. Jaishankar will meet Mr. Bhutto in India, and also the first such meeting since the Poonch terror attack, which the Army has held Pakistan responsible for. South Block will be keen to see if Mr. Lavrov echoes Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu’s speech at the SCO Defence Ministers’ gathering last week, where he criticised the ‘Quad’ grouping of US-India-Australia-Japan, a meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend next month in Sydney. Sources confirmed that Mr. Jaishankar will meet Chinese FM Qin Gang for a bilateral meeting, which will also be watched closely for any handshakes - at the meeting last week in Delhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was seen pointedly greeting his Chinese counterpart with a Namaste, rather than the handshakes he shared with all other counterparts. Among the first of the guests to arrive will be Mr. Lavrov, who is set to meet Mr. Jaishankar, Mr. Qin and Mr. Bhutto during the day.