WHY Jaishankar resorts to namaste diplomacy while greeting SCO FMs?

New Delhi/Panaji: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took to 'namaste diplomacy' while welcoming fellow SCO foreign ministers at the Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers in Panaji today – a move that helped maintain equanimity while greeting his Pakistani counterpart.

EAM Jaishankar was polite and courteous while greeting and welcoming Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with a namaste and polite smile at the venue, with the Pakistani FM responding in kind, as both posed for a photo. EAM then politely ushered him to the meeting room.

EAM did likewise for Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, with whom he had held a bilateral meeting on Thursday. However, the two ministers did share a few words before the Chinese FM was ushered in for the meeting.

It was a namaste with which he greeting Russia’s FM Sergey Lavrov too, though the two share a good rapport and on Thursday did share some lighter moments.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation membership includes Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan besides India. (UNI)