SCO Summit: India is set to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit today (July 4) in a virtual format. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the summit. Terrorism, regional security and prosperity are expected to be the three main issues on the agenda of the summit. Under India’s first chairmanship, the 22nd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of States will be held in a virtual format on July 4 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The acronym “SECURE”, coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO Qingdao Summit, inspired India’s SCO Presidency theme. Its initials are S: Security, E: Economic Development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, E: Environment Protection.
China, Pakistan to attend summit
The summit will be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend the summit this week. All SCO member states, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been invited to participate in the summit.
Meanwhile, Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have also been invited to participate as observer states. As is the tradition of the SCO, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair. It will also have representatives from the two bodies of the SCO, the Secretariat and the SCO RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure). Pakistan and China have expressed their willingness to participate in the summit, which is one of its main attractions. Pakistan is expected to attend the conference despite facing international isolation for harboring terrorists.
All top SCO officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, attended the individual meeting in the Uzbek city of Samarkand last year. India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO in September 2022 at the Samarkand summit.
India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the grouping’s ministerial-level meetings, which are primarily focused on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Framework (RATS), particularly on issues related to security and defence.
Read also: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif to attend virtual SCO summit hosted by India on July 4 Details
About SCO
It must be mentioned here that SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest intra-regional international organizations. The SCO was founded in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
(with inputs from agencies)