 "SCO virtual Summit")
India will host the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on Tuesday i.e July 4, 2023. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping are on the list of invitees. The SCO Council of Heads of State will be led by PM Narendra Modi virtually for all intents and purposes.
India has also invited other SCO members like Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia have also been invited to the 23rd Meeting of the SCO Council as Observer States. According to the SCO rituals, Turkmenistan has likewise been welcomed as the chair guest. Heads of the two SCO Bodies; the Secretariat and the SCO RATS, will likewise be available.
Further, the heads of six international and regional associations – UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU, and CICA – are also expected to be part of the summit. The Summit's title is "Towards a SECURE SCO." The acronym was instituted by Modi at the 2018 SCO Qingadao Summit and represents Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.
India and SCO Summit: Overview
India joined the SCO in 2005 and became a full-fledged member at the Astana Summit in 2017. India’s participation over the last decade has been phenomenal in all SCO operations. The country was given the chairmanship at the SCO summit in Samarkand in September 2022, from Uzbekistan.
India’s participation helped foster new areas of cooperation and the creation of five new pillars in SCO – Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, and Shared Buddhist Heritage. The country also helped usher in two new mechanisms in the SCO – Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation and Experts Working Group on Traditional Medicine.
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During India's presidency of the SCO, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar virtually displayed the New Delhi hall in the SCO Secretariat in Beijing. To celebrate India's most memorable SCO presidency, a memorial stamp was given. On May 4-5 this year, India likewise facilitated the Foreign Ministers of SCO in Goa, this was observed by a beautiful cultural programme and meaningful conversations the next day. Goa exhibited its warm hospitality, exceptional culture, and unique legacy.
SCO Summit 2023: China and Pakistan
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said "Beijing stands ready to work with different individuals to construct a significantly closer SCO group with a common future". On the other hand, Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan is scheduled to attend the 23rd Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS).
