On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, India will host the first Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. On the list of invited guests are Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In all actuality, PM Narendra Modi will preside over the SCO Council of Heads of State. In addition, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have received invitations from India. The 23rd meeting of the SCO Council has also extended invitations to Observer States, Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia. As per SCO protocol, Turkmenistan has also been officially welcomed as the chair guest. The heads of the Secretariat and SCO RATS, two SCO bodies, will also be on hand. The summit is also anticipated to include the heads of six international and regional organisations, including the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU, and CICA. The summit's theme is "Towards a SECURE SCO." It stands for environment, connectivity, respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, trade, economy, and security. Modi introduced the term at the 2018 SCO Qingdao Summit.
India and SCO Summit: Overview
India joined the SCO in 2005 and during the Astana Summit in 2017, it was granted full membership. India has been extremely active in all SCO operations during the past ten years. At the SCO meeting in Samarkand in September 2022, the country assumed leadership from Uzbekistan. The addition of five additional pillars to the SCO Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, and Shared Buddhist Heritage was made possible by India's involvement. Additionally, the nation contributed to the establishment of two new SCO mechanisms: the Experts Working Group on Traditional Medicine and the Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar substantially recreated the New Delhi hall in the SCO Secretariat in Beijing while India held the SCO chair. A commemorative stamp was distributed to mark India's most notable SCO president. India similarly hosted the SCO Foreign Ministers in Goa on May 4-5 of this year; this was celebrated the next day with a lovely cultural programme and insightful discussions. Goa demonstrated its gracious hospitality, outstanding culture, and distinctive heritage.
SCO Summit 2023: China and Pakistan
Beijing "stands ready to work with different individuals to construct a significantly closer SCO group with a common future," according to Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. On the other side, the 23rd meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) is slated to include Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
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