QINGDAO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a "productive" meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and invited his country to join the International Solar Alliance.

Modi met Nazarbayev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation here in the eastern Chinese port city.

"Prime Minister Modi had a productive meeting with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Prime Minister Modi invited the Kazakhstan president to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), an initiative announced in 2015 whose primary objective is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

"PM Narendra Modi invited Kazakhstan to join the International Solar Alliance and the President of Kazakhstan responded positively," said Ruchi Ghanashyam, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Modi held nearly half a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO countries.

Other leaders attending the summit include Chinese President Xi Jinping , Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.

Prime Minister Modi yesterday had seperate meetings with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon on the sidelines of the summit here and discussed a range of topics with them to further strengthen India's ties with the resource-rich Central Asian countries.

