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NEW DELHI: With PM Narendra Modi all set to chair the SCO summit on Tuesday, the government is hoping to end its presidency of the Eurasian group with a consensus in the form of a joint communique that will address, among other things, issues related to counter-terrorism, de-radicalisation, connectivity, Afghanistan, energy and the need for improvement in the architecture of global governance.
The virtual summit will be completed in a single session that will last for a little over two hours and will also see remarks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif. Apart from addressing the issue of cross-border terrorism in the proposed New Delhi Declaration, which is still in the works, the government is also expected to raise issues related to the disruption in global supply chains and food and energy crises in the meeting. The last SCO summit, which was held in Samarkand, Modi publicly told Putin that this wasn’t the era of war.
In the foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa in May, foreign minister S Jaishankar had mentioned cross-border terrorism in his opening remarks, stressing that combating terrorism was one of the original mandates of the SCO. The government is pushing for an unqualified and detailed mention of the menace and the need to address it in the joint statement but it’s unclear how Pakistan and China will respond.
India has not just proposed a New Delhi or SCO Declaration but also four other joint statements on cooperation in de-radicalization, strategies, promotion of millets and sustainable lifestyles to address issues like climate change and digital transformation.
The government is hoping these will be approved by all member-states and released by the leaders after the summit. While India has been supportive of connectivity initiatives by SCO, it has repeatedly underlined that these must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member-states.
Highlighting the gains made under India’s presidency of the SCO, government sources said that the group had touched new milestones in the range, depth and intensity of engagements and interactions across wide-ranging sectors.
“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,” said the official.
The virtual summit will be completed in a single session that will last for a little over two hours and will also see remarks made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif. Apart from addressing the issue of cross-border terrorism in the proposed New Delhi Declaration, which is still in the works, the government is also expected to raise issues related to the disruption in global supply chains and food and energy crises in the meeting. The last SCO summit, which was held in Samarkand, Modi publicly told Putin that this wasn’t the era of war.
In the foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa in May, foreign minister S Jaishankar had mentioned cross-border terrorism in his opening remarks, stressing that combating terrorism was one of the original mandates of the SCO. The government is pushing for an unqualified and detailed mention of the menace and the need to address it in the joint statement but it’s unclear how Pakistan and China will respond.
India has not just proposed a New Delhi or SCO Declaration but also four other joint statements on cooperation in de-radicalization, strategies, promotion of millets and sustainable lifestyles to address issues like climate change and digital transformation.
The government is hoping these will be approved by all member-states and released by the leaders after the summit. While India has been supportive of connectivity initiatives by SCO, it has repeatedly underlined that these must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member-states.
Highlighting the gains made under India’s presidency of the SCO, government sources said that the group had touched new milestones in the range, depth and intensity of engagements and interactions across wide-ranging sectors.
“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,” said the official.
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