The MEA said India wanted strong references to terrorism in the SCO joint statement, but one country disagreed, so the statement could not be finalised.The ministry of external affairs on Thursday said that a joint statement could not be adopted at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers' meeting, as consensus could not be reached, particularly on the issue of terrorism.We had our defence minister participating in the defence ministers' meeting of SCO. This meeting happened over two days, that is, yesterday and today. The defence ministers' meeting has concluded. I understand that they could not adopt a joint statement. I also understand that certain member countries could not reach consensus on certain issues, and hence, the document couldn't be formalised,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

He further said that India had pushed for a strong mention of terrorism in the joint statement, but this was not acceptable to a particular country.

“On our side, India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in the document, which was not acceptable to one particular country, and therefore the statement…” Jaiswal said.

He added that the defence minister, in his address, urged SCO member states to unite and fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.