NEW DELHI: The much-awaited SCO Summit will be over in about two hours time on Tuesday. After India decided to host it virtually, most members who were gearing up to travel to Delhi to attend it in-person will now have around 10 minutes of time each to talk, deliberate and agree on issues that would later translate into the joint declaration.
The Summit being organised under India’s chairmanship will be more like a conference now where leaders will not be able to have bilaterals on the sidelines – like in Samarkhand last September. Discussions are likely to be held around issues ranging from terrorism to security, trade and politics.
The virtual Summit which will be anchored by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will also be attended by Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin (who according to Kremlin was gearing up to attend the Summit in person), Chinese Premier Xi Jingping and Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif amongst other heads of state.
PM Modi and President Putin had a telephonic conversation recently talking stalk of the situation in Russia post the minor rebellion caused by Wagner and also about the need to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. India’s relations with Pakistan are at an all-time low due to terrorism while with China are not ‘normal’ as External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar keeps reiterating due to the LAC standoff.
“India has beens too consumed by the G20 and its upcoming Summit, which is the probable reason for them to push the SCO Summit on a virtual mode,’’ lamented a SCO member. Last year in the Samarkand Summit, besides the joint declaration a record number of agreements, concepts, programs had been adopted. Around 44 documents were signed. India has hosted over 100 meetings under its SCO chairmanship and most were in person meetings. The most well known was the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting that was held in Goa – which was attended by Sergey Lavrov, Bilawal Bhutto and Qin Gang.
SCO is the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of area, covering approximately 60 per cent of Eurasia and 42 per cent of the world population, representing 25 per cent of the global GDP, 25 per cent of the world’s oil reserves and 50 per cent of natural gas and uranium deposits. Iran will join as member of this grouping on Tuesday.
The subjects on which the members will deliberate will include terrorism, security situation in Afghanistan, enhancing cooperation between SCO states which includes improving connectivity through multi-modal routes. The theme for India’s Presidency is `SECURE” which is an abbreviation for security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for soverignity and territorial integrity and environmental protection. India has also been pushing for deeper cooperation on de-radicalisation strategies.
India has hosted over 100 meetings under its SCO chairmanship and most were in person meetings. The most well known was the SCO Foreign Ministers meeting that was held in Goa – which was attended by Sergey Lavrov, Bilawal Bhutto and Qin Gang.
Meanwhile, the members of the SCO include India, Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikstan. Their dialogue partners include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are likely to be dialogue partner. SCO members are hoping that the significance of the Summit is not diluted in the future.