PM Modi hosts SCO meet tomorrow; focus on cross-border terror, climate change

The summit is expected to begin at 12.30 pm and conclude around 3 pm. Earlier, the summit was scheduled to take place in-person in New Delhi, but the plan was changed early June.

As India had taken a tough stance at the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Goa, which was attended by Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, China’s Qin Gang and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov among others, all eyes will be on the formulation of the Delhi declaration on terrorism — especially since Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif will be attending the summit.

The Russia-Ukraine war is also likely to be discussed as Russian President Putin will be attending the summit, days after a failed armed mutiny by a Russian mercenary group. Putin spoke to Modi last week about the mutiny, and had claimed the Indian Prime Minister’s support.

In the last SCO summit that took place in-person in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September last year, Modi had told Putin that this is not the era of war.

The meeting is also being held in the context of the border standoff between Indian and Chinese troops, and Chinese President Xi’s presence will be watched closely, as issues of respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty are expected to come up.

India’s association with the SCO began in 2005 as an Observer country. India became a full Member State of SCO at the Astana Summit in 2017, which was a “historic moment” in India’s engagement with the Organisation, according to officials.

In the past six years, India has played a “very active and constructive role” in all spheres of activities of SCO, officials said.

The theme of India’s Presidency of SCO- SECURE is derived from the acronym given by Prime Minister 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 and E: Environmental protection,” an official said.

During its presidency, India created five new pillars and focus areas of cooperation in SCO. These are Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Inclusion, Youth Empowerment and Shared Buddhist Heritage.

“Two new mechanisms in SCO, 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,” the official said.