India is all set to virtually host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit today. The summit will witness the participation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The meeting of the SCO Heads of State will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The major issues that are expected to be on the agenda include terrorism, regional security and prosperity. The theme of India’s chairship of SCO- SECURE is derived from the acronym coined by PM Modi at the 2018 SCO Qingdao Summit.
It stands for S: Security, E: Economic development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, E: Environmental protection.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will also participate in the summit this week. This comes at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war has completed over a war. India has condemned the war but has not voted against Russia at any forum.
Speaking to President Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan last year, PM Modi said, “This is not the era of war”, a statement that even made to the G20 communique under the Indian presidency. Earlier on June 30, PM Modi held a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation including Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G20.
All the SCO Member States, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have been invited to attend the Summit.
In addition, Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States. As per the SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair. Heads of the two SCO Bodies, the Secretariat and the SCO RATS, will also be present.