New Delhi: India has invited Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the  Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in New Delhi next month, media reports said.

India is the current chair of the eight-nation SCO, and the invite to Asif came after New Delhi invited Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, for an SCO foreign ministerial conclave, to be held in Goa in May, reports The Indian Express.

According to reports, India, apart from Pakistan, also invited China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang for the conclave.

The other SCO member countries are  Russia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The invitation to the Pakistan Defence minister was sent through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, reports The Indian Express.

India will separately invite Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for the annual SCO summit later this year. It is learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the meeting, the Indian newspaper reported.