NEW DELHI:

skipped a major military medicine conference of the

(SCO) organised here on Thursday, which saw defence minister

underline the need to build capabilities to tackle the growing threat of bio-terrorism around the world.

Though Pakistan was formally invited to attend the two-day conference, it chose not to send any representatives. “This is an SCO meet. Pakistan was invited as an SCO member, but it did not come,” said an Army officer.

It was in 2017 that both India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO, which was constituted by

, China,

, Kyrgyzstan and

in 2001. Now the grouping has eight full members, including India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Inaugurating the conference, the defence minister said the threat of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare had added to the complexity of the existing challenges being faced by countries.

Describing bio-terrorism as a “contagious plague”, Singh underlined the importance of building capabilities while asking the armed forces to be at the forefront of combating the menace.

However, the air adviser in the Pakistani high commission attended the dinner and cultural programme for the SCO attendees.