A group of the Indian community, the India Club in Tashkent on Thursday sent a gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a mark of respect to him, ahead of his arrival in Uzbekistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.

An Uzbek wall carpet painted with a picture of PM Modi was handed over to the Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan. “Today, on behalf of 1800 Indians living in Uzbekistan, India Club Tashkent has got your picture painted on the Uzbek wall carpet as a mark of respect. We request you to kindly accept this small gift,” said India Club in a letter to Prime Minister.

Ashok Kumar Tiwari, Chairman of the India Club, Tashkent said, “All Indians connected with this organisation are pleased with Prime Minister’s arrival in the country. This is his third visit to the country, which reflects the good ties between India-Uzbekistan. The Indian Community here has prepared this gift for him as a mark of respect.”

“The handicrafts of Uzbekistan are very famous in the entire world, and so with the help of the artisans here we have painted the picture of PM Modi on the Uzbek wall carpet, which we will gift him. We look forward to meeting him in person during this visit,” he added.

Tiwari in his letter to the Prime Minister said that India Club Tashkent was formed 10 years ago in Tashkent to connect the Indians living in Uzbekistan on one platform to celebrate all the festivals of India with the same joy and gaiety as people living in India.”

“India Club Tashkent with the help of the Indian Embassy transported a huge amount of relief material to the people of India during COVID. India Club Tashkent has done many such noble deeds for Uzbekistan and India, so that the friendship between India and Uzbekistan becomes stronger.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to attend the 22nd Summit of the Council of Heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States (SCO-CoHS) today in Samarkand in Uzbekistan after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He will attend the summit on Friday and is expected to have bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand.

PM Modi and the Russian President will discuss Russian-Indian cooperation within the UN and G20 during the SCO summit.

Modi has been leading the Indian delegation to the SCO Summit every year since India became its full member in 2017. During the last two summits in 2020 and 2021, Prime Minister participated in the virtual format.

The summit would be the first in-person SCO-CoHS Summit, after the last one held in June 2019 in Bishkek, before the Covid pandemic hit the world as the subsequent two summits under the chairmanship of Russia and Tajikistan were held in virtual format.

Leaders of SCO Member States, Observer States, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests would attend the meeting.

The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).