INDIAN PM SINGH LIKELY TO ATTEND SCO SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 001180 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL IN SUBJECT: INDIAN PM SINGH LIKELY TO ATTEND SCO SUMMIT Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Les Viguerie for reasons 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) Indian Ministry of External Affairs Director (Eurasia) Mrs. Nagma Mallick told us on June 4 that though it has not been announced officially, Prime Minister Singh will likely attend the June 15-16 SCO summit in the Russian city of Yektarinburg. This would be the first time that India has sent its head of government to an SCO summit. (Note: India is an observer in SCO). If the PM attends the summit it will be the first time he has been in proximity to Pakistani Prime Minister Zardari since the Mumbai attacks, and the Indian media is speculating that the two might use the opportunity to meet face-to-face. ¶2. (C) Professor Nirmala Joshi, Director of the India-Central Asia Foundation in New Delhi, said Russia, which currently holds the chairmanship of both SCO and BRIC, may have changed the format of the SCO summit in order to include observer heads of state in some capacity. She did not have details about the format changes. Dr. Joshi signaled that Russia put its prestige at stake by hosting the BRIC summit, which the Indian PM usually attends, and the SCO summit, which he does not, in the same city on consecutive days, thus pressuring PM Singh to attend both summits. She speculated that it may be a Russian initiative to bring India and Pakistan together, commenting that by not attending Russia's SCO summit, India would be snubbing an important, old ally that plays heavily into India's balance of power calculations with China. BURLEIGH