India on Thursday said that all eight members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, including Pakistan, would be invited to attend the group’s yearly summit later this year.

“India will be hosting the SCO heads of government summit later this year,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. “It is held annually at the prime ministers’ level and discusses the SCO’s program on multilateral and trade cooperation. As per established practice and procedure, all eight members and four observer states and other international dialogue partners will be invited to attend the meeting.”

The SCO was founded in Shanghai in 2001 by then presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This is the first time that India will be hosting the summit. India and China were given membership in the group in 2017.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would have the option to come for the event, while there have been instances of foreign ministers of the member countries attending the summit, unidentified officials said, according to Hindustan Times.

On the United Nations Security Council meeting on Jammu and Kashmir, held on Wednesday, Kumar criticised Pakistan for raising the matter through China. It added that an “overwhelming majority of UNSC” that it was not the correct platform to discuss the issues that were bilateral to India and Pakistan. Kumar said the informal closed-door meeting concluded without any outcome.

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