PM Modi departs for India as SCO Summit ends

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday departed for India after concluding two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China's Qingdao city.

He emplaned for New Delhi's AFS Palam from Qingdao Liuting International Airport.
Prime Minister Modi held a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

Other leaders attending the summit include Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Afghanistn President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.

Earlier in the day, the SCO leaders inked a number of agreements during the signing-in ceremony at the summit.

The SCO leaders signed the Qingdao Declaration and agreements on security, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges during the ceremony, which was held at Qingdao International Convention Center on the final day of the 18th SCO summit.

PM Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain were seen shaking hands after signing of the agreements at the summit.

This is the first SCO summit wherein both India and Pakistan are attending as full-time members.

India and Pakistan became full members of the organisation at Astana Summit in Kazakhstan in June last year.

The final day of the two-day annual summit commenced with a welcome ceremony and a group photo of leaders of the eight SCO member-states.

The SCO was founded in Shanghai 17 years ago and it now accounts for nearly half of the world's population and over 20 per cent of global GDP.
It is by far the largest regional organisation in the world.

(ANI)