The 23rd Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State took place on Tuesday under India’s chairship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian leader Vladimir Putin among other leaders of SCO member states in a virtual meeting.
Additionally, Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia have also been invited to participate as observer states. Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair, as is tradition for the SCO.
India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit in September 2022. The theme under India’s chairship is SCO-SECURE. The acronym “SECURE,” coined by PM Modi at the 2018 SCO Qingdao Summit, inspired India’s SCO chairship theme. Its initials stand for S: Security, E: Economic development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, E: Environmental protection.
Here are the highlights of the SCO Summit held virtually yesterday.
- In an apparent attack on Pakistan and China, PM Modi underscored the threat of terrorism to regional and global peace in his virtual address.
- Speaking on the security situation in Afghanistan he also asserted that the Afghan territory should not be used to destabilize neighboring countries or encourage extremist ideologies.
- PM Modi underscored India’s contribution to social and economic development in Afghanistan.
- During his address, the Prime Minister also highlighted that the SCO has emerged as a crucial platform for peace, prosperity, and development in Eurasia in the last two decades. “We do not see the SCO as an extended neighborhood, but rather as an extended family.” He said.
- Security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environmental protection are the pillars of our vision for SCO,” he added.
- PM Modi also pitched for sharing India’s AI-based language platform, Bhashini, with SCO member countries to remove language barriers within the international grouping.
- The SCO leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration and two thematic joint statements – one on cooperation in countering the radicalization leading to separatism, extremism, and terrorism and the second one on cooperation in the field of digital transformation.
- The “New Delhi declaration” coined by the Indian government was proposed at the SCO summit to combat the threat of terrorism.
- It also proposed four other joint statements on de-radicalization, sustainable lifestyle to tackle climate change, production of millets, and digital transformation. The declaration was supported by Russian President Putin.
- The Prime Minister further said to harness the talent of the youth from SCO countries, several new platforms such as the Young Scientist Conclave, Authors Conclave, Start-up Forum, and Youth Council have been organized. These platforms aim to channel the potential of SCO’s youth and provide them with meaningful opportunities, he added.
- India welcomed Iran’s inclusion in the SCO and said that both countries can work to better utilize the Chabahar port for bolstering trade and connectivity.
- While supporting reform and modernization of SCO, PM Modi also highlighted the crises of food, fuel, and fertilizers, which are becoming major challenges for all countries.
- India remained the sole country to refrain from supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). During the summit, the Prime Minister said that while strong connectivity is crucial for development in any country, it is important to uphold the basic principles of the SCO charter that respect the sovereignty of the bloc’s member states.
Apart from this, Putin also underlined the need for counter-terrorism and counter-radicalism during the virtual summit. He thanked PM Modi for organizing the summit.
PM Modi’s remarks towards cross-border terrorism came at a crucial juncture where Pakistan has been repeatedly called out for fuelling cross-border terrorism and harboring terrorists on their territory, while China is preventing global sanctions against such terrorists.
The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organizations.
(With PTI inputs
