Finance
The 22nd Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will be held in a virtual format in July for the first time under India’s chairmanship, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Tuesday. The heads of state of all member countries, including Russia, China, and Pakistan, have been invited, according to a statement from the ministry.
Originally scheduled to take place in person, the event will now take place on July 4 and will be headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The defence and foreign ministers of the eight-member group met in person earlier this year in India.
In addition to member-countries such as China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, India has invited Iran, Belarus and Mongolia as Observer States, the MEA stated. “As per 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,” it stated.
Heads of six international and regional organisations — the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA — have also been invited. India has named the upcoming summit ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’.
“SECURE”, an acronym coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO Summit. stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. “These themes have been highlighted during our Chairmanship of SCO,” the MEA stated.
According to the statement, as Chair, India has established “new pillars” of cooperation within the bloc, such as Startups and Innovation; Traditional Medicine; Digital Inclusion; Youth Empowerment; and Shared Buddhist Heritage. It went on to say that India has sought to strengthen people-to-people ties that commemorate the nations’ historical and civilisational bonds, such as the myriad sociocultural events held by Varanasi as the first SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23.
Under its presidency, India has held 134 meetings and activities, including 14 ministerial-level meetings.
Source:IE
