China will support India for presidency in 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address at an expanded session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand.
"I congratulate India for hosting the SCO next year," the Chinese President said in a statement during the summit.
Russian president Vladimir Putin - who is set to hold a bilateral meeting with PM Modi later in the day - also conveyed a congratulatory message to India for assuming the presidency.
Addressing the 22nd SCO Summit on Friday, Prime Minister Modi said that as the world faces challenges of economic recovery after the global Covid-19 pandemic, the role of the SCO is very important.
Speaking in Hindi, the Prime Minister said that the bloc contributes to 30 per cent of the global GDP, while 40 per cent of the world's population resides in the member countries.
He went on to say that the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the global pandemic have led to disruptions in global supply chains, leaving the world facing unprecedented energy and food crises.
Hence, the SCO should strive to develop "reliable, resilient and diversified" supply chains in the region, Prime Minister Modi added.
Meanwhile, Xi Jinping on Friday called for regional countries to reshape the international order at the summit in Uzbekistan touted as a challenge to Western global influence.
Xi told the summit that members should "abandon zero-sum games and bloc politics," as well as "uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core."
Leaders should "work together to promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction", Xi said at the meeting.
The Shanghai Five, formed in 1996, became the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2001 with the inclusion of Uzbekistan.
With India and Pakistan entering the grouping in 2017 and the decision to admit Tehran as a full member in 2021, SCO became one of the largest multilateral organisations, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the global GDP and 40 per cent of the world's population.
The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six "Dialogue Partners" (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).
The SCO was set up in 2001 as a political, economic and security organisation to rival Western institutions.
The SCO Summit usually has two sessions --- a restricted session, only for the SCO member states, and then an extended session which includes participation by observers and special invitees.
The SCO Member States, Observers, Special Guests of the Chair and representatives from regional organisations come together for a meeting in the expanded format.
This is the first in-person SCO Summit after the Covid pandemic hit the world.
The last in-person SCO Heads of State Summit was held in Bishkek in June 2019.
(With inputs from AFP and ANI)