New Delhi: In Samarkand for barely 24 hours, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi missed the official dinner of the SCO, along with the pre-summit group events on Thursday, September 15. Chinese President Xi Jinping also missed the dinner and pre-summit events.Unlike Modi, Xi arrived in Uzbekistan on Wednesday. While it has not been confirmed, the reason for his absence could be COVID-19 protocols.Modi and Xi joined Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the first physical gathering of the regional security group in over three years.Nearly all the leaders of the member states reached Uzbekistan on Wednesday, while Modi travelled for the SCO summit on Thursday night. The official summit dinner began on Thursday evening, which Modi will skip due to his arrival schedule.At a briefing ahead of the visit, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said that Prime Minister Modi would be in Uzbekistan for “a very brief period”.“He reaches late tonight and will attend restricted and extended sessions tomorrow,” he said.It will mean that there will hardly be any openings for informal interaction and restrict photo opportunities of Modi with other visiting leaders.“….all I will say that besides his bilateral with the host country, chair of SCO Uzbekistan, Prime Minister will have other bilateral on the sidelines of the summit,” Kwatra replied to a volley of questions about whether Modi will hold a meeting with Xi.This is the first time that Modi and Xi were face-to-face in the same room since the two militaries began their stand-off, leaving at least 23 soldiers dead in Eastern Ladakh in May 2020. Xi has not travelled since January 2020. Earlier this week, Indian and Chinese soldiers disengaged and created the fourth buffer zone at Patrol point 15. In his departure statement, Modi also was equally reticent about naming other bilateral meetings. “I also look forward to meeting President Mirziyoyev in Samarkand. I fondly recall his visit to India in 2018. He also graced the Vibrant Gujarat Summit as its Guest of Honour in 2019. In addition, I will hold bilateral meetings with some of the other Leaders attending the Summit,” he said.The Russian government had already announced two days ago that Vladimir Putin will meet with Modi. But, the Indian side refused to confirm it. The Chinese government has, so far, not mentioned any bilateral meeting with the Indian prime minister.“At the SCO Summit, I look forward to exchanging views on topical, regional and international issues, the expansion of SCO and on further deepening of multifaceted and mutually beneficial cooperation within the Organization. Under the Uzbek Chairship, a number of decisions for mutual cooperation are likely to be adopted in areas of trade, economy, culture and tourism,” said Modi.Further, the leaders in attendance took part in a tree planting ceremony at the Great Silk Road International Tourist Centre in Samarkand. Modi, however, was the only leader to plant a tree separately.This story was originally published at 5:59 pm on September 15 and was republished at 10:00 am on September 16 with additional details.