New Delhi, 4th July 2023: Today, India will virtually host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, which will be attended virtually by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Summit is scheduled to concentrate on the regional security situation as well as efforts to improve connectivity and trade.
This will be Putin’s first global meeting since a mercenary group launched a brief armed insurrection that shook Moscow. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which India will host, will also welcome Iran as the grouping’s latest permanent member.
The situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict, and improving cooperation among SCO member nations are scheduled to be discussed at the summit, according to persons acquainted with the topic, who also said that boosting connectivity and trade is likely to be discussed.
The summit takes place against the backdrop of a three-year border standoff between Indian and Chinese forces in eastern Ladakh, and only two weeks after PM Modi was visited by US President Joe Biden for a state visit.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), founded in 2001 by China and Russia, with former Soviet Central Asian states as members, and later joined by India and Pakistan, is a political and security organisation that strives to oppose Western dominance in Eurasia.
India became a member of the SCO as an observer country in 2005. It was admitted as a full member of the SCO during the Astana summit in 2017.
India has walked a diplomatic tightrope this year as relations between western nations and a Russia-China partnership have been strained as a result of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year and Beijing’s growing assertive presence in the global geopolitical theatre.
On Tuesday, Modi will share the virtual stage with Xi for the first time since November, when the two leaders attended the G20 conference in Indonesia.
During India’s presidency of the SCO, major actions occurred in a number of areas. In the SCO, New Delhi established five new pillars of cooperation. Startups and innovation, traditional medicine, digital inclusiveness, youth empowerment, and common Buddhist heritage.
On India’s initiative, the special working group on startups and innovation and the specialists working group on traditional medicine were also formed.
