New Delhi/UNI: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday hosted the 18th meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils of SCO Member States here, which was attended by senior security officials from all eight member countries, with Pakistan and China attending virtually.

India is the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The in-person meet today is being attended by Russian security chief Nikolai Patrushev and it will provide another opportunity for NSA Doval to hold talks with the Russian top official.

The meeting between NSA Doval and Nikolai Patrushev comes more than a month after the two met in Russia during the fifth multilateral meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils/NSAs on Afghanistan, which was hosted by Russia.

NSA Doval had also met Russian President Vladimir Putin during the meeting.

SCO was proclaimed on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (China), with six members - Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In June 2017 in Astana, during a meeting of the Heads of State, India and Pakistan were given the status of full members.

Besides the eight full members, four countries — Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia — have an observer status with the SCO, while six countries — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka — have a dialogue partner status. Iran is likely to be granted full members status.

India is to host the Heads of State summit of the SCO in July.