SCO Summit: Jaishankar's First in person meeting with Iran's Araghchi

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in Tianjin, China, marking their first in-person meeting amid recent Iran-Israel tensions.

The meeting occurred during the SCO Foreign Ministers' gathering, following a prior telephonic conversation in June.

Jaishankar's visit to China is significant, being his first since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash.

Beijing [China], July 15 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Tianjin, China. Jaishankar shared the update on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, "Good to catch up with FM @araghchi of Iran, this time on the sidelines of the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tianjin."

This is Jaishankar's first in-person meeting with Araghchi following the recent conflict between Iran and Israel. In June, the two leaders had held a telephonic conversation during which Jaishankar thanked Araghchi for facilitating the safe evacuation of Indian nationals amid the hostilities. Jaishankar is on an official visit to China to attend the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting. He arrived in Beijing after concluding his trip to Singapore.

This is also his first visit to China since the Galwan Valley clash in 2020, which severely strained ties between the two countries. Earlier in the day, Jaishankar, along with other SCO foreign ministers, met Chinese President Xi Jinping. His visit comes shortly after recent visits to China by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, both of whom attended SCO-related engagements in June.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to visit India next month to meet NSA Ajit Doval. The meeting will be part of the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue mechanism, aimed at resolving the long-standing boundary dispute between the two countries. (ANI)