Narendra Modi's address at SCO today

New Delhi: The much-awaited bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to take place today on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

PM Modi reached Astana on Thursday to participate in the Summit at which India is expected to become a member along with Pakistan. Modi is likely to pitch for a concerted global action plan to contain terrorism at the summit which is also being attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. No formal bilateral meeting has been scheduled between PM Modi and Pakistan PM Sharif.

The Modi-Xi bilateral meeting however will be keenly watched after India's recent boycott of the recent One Belt One Road (OBOR) conference in Beijing amid China's intransigence on refusing to give the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) the green signal to admit India as a member.

The meeting follows tension in Sino-Indian ties, with China continuing to back Pakistan against Indian interests,The SCO currently has 6 members. With the addition of India and Pakistan, the number of members will become eight.  On the SCO Summit that will take place on Friday, PM Modi on Wednesday had stated, "At this meeting, on completion of the process, India will become a full Member of the SCO upon which SCO will represent over 40% of humanity and nearly 20% of global GDP.