Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the SCO leaders virtually on Tuesday, said that some countries are providing shelter to terrorists and “using cross-border terrorism as a tool”. The stern message came in presence of Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russia counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“SCO should not hesitate to criticize such countries. SCO countries should condemn it. There should be no double standards on terrorism,” he added. PM Modi further said that for Indians, nations are “not just neighbours but a family”.
“We do not see the SCO as an extended neighbourhood, but rather as an extended family. Security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environmental protection are the pillars of our vision for SCO,” the prime minister said.
Ukraine conflict was among key issues that dominated the discussion at the SCO nations’ virtual summit. Boosting connectivity, trade and enhancing cooperation among the SCO member countries were also discussed.
Importance of the SCO Meeting: It will be Putin’s first participation in a multilateral summit after a mercenary group launched a short-lived armed rebellion last week that rocked Moscow. The summit is also taking place against the backdrop of the over three-year eastern Ladakh border standoff between Indian and Chinese troops, and two weeks after Prime Minister Modi’s high-profile visit to the US.
Members of SCO: • The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) under India’s presidency is also set to welcome Iran as the new permanent member of the grouping.
• The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
Other Attendees and SCO Meeting Theme: • Heads of the two SCO bodies — the secretariat and the SCO RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) are also set to attend Tuesday’s virtual summit whose theme is “Towards a SECURE SCO’.
• The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.
• Heads of six international and regional organisations have also been invited to the summit. The organisations are the UN, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organisation), EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) and CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia).
India’s SCO Presidency: • India’s presidency of the SCO saw significant activities in a number of areas. New Delhi created five new pillars for cooperation in SCO.
•These are startups and innovation, traditional medicine, digital inclusion, youth empowerment and shared Buddhist heritage. The special working group on startups and innovation and experts working group on traditional medicine were created on India’s initiative. “We intend to contribute substantially in both these areas,” said one of the people cited above.
• To further Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakom (world is one family), India emphasised on building greater people-to-people connect, the person said. A number of signature events were held under the Indian presidency with the intention to further deepen people to people connect.
SCO Summit’s History: • India’s association with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. It became a full member state of SCO at the Astana summit in 2017.
• India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its RATS, which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.
• The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan became its permanent member along with India in 2017.
(With inputs from PTI)
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