India to host SCO summit in virtual format today; Pakistan, China to participate | Check summit’s agenda

SCO Summit: The three main issues that are anticipated to be on the agenda of the summit are terrorism, regional security and prosperity

SCO Summit: India is set to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in the virtual format today (July 4). The summit will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three main issues that are anticipated to be on the agenda of the summit are terrorism, regional security and prosperity. “Under India’s first-ever chairmanship, the 22nd summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be held in the virtual format on July 4, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the MEA said in a statement.

The acronym “SECURE,” coined by Prime Minister 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.

🇮🇳India will host Shanghai Cooperation Organization, #SCOSummit today in virtual format. 23rd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be chaired by PM @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/Y1KnRJ0HJD

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) July 4, 2023

China, Pakistan to participate in Summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be participating in the summit. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be participating in the summit this week. All the SCO Member States, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have been invited to attend the Summit.

Meanwhile, 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. There will also be representatives from the Secretariat and SCO RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure), two of the SCO’s bodies. Pakistan and China have indicated their desire to attend the summit, which is one of its main highlights. Pakistan is expected to attend the conference despite being isolated internationally for harbouring terrorists.

All of the SCO’s top officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, attended the in-person meeting last year in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. India had assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit in September 2022.

India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

News Sources – India Tv News