In a significant development, India has assumed the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) from Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is the current chair of SCO 2022 whereas India will be the next chair of the SCO.
#BREAKING – Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Presidency has been handed over to India.#SCOSummit2022 #SCOSummitSamarkand pic.twitter.com/c0TExdOG2O
— Asia News (@asianewsteam) September 16, 2022
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit which was being held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan has ended today (Friday).
The two-day summit was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping along with other leaders from a total of fifteen heads of state and the heads of ten international organizations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin extended his good wishes to India for hosting the 23rd edition of the summit next year. Apart from Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping also congratulated India on assuming the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for 2023. “We will support India for its presidency next year,” Jinping stated on Friday at SCO Summit in Uzbekistan. Notably, India will take over the rotating annual chairmanship of the SCO, which is now held by Uzbekistan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also conveyed a congratulatory message to India for assuming the presidency.
This is the first in-person SCO Summit since the Covid epidemic. The most recent SCO Heads of State Summit took place in Bishkek in June 2019.
The SCO currently has eight member countries (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).
PM Modi addresses Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit
Speaking at the SCO meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated his desire to convert India into a manufacturing hub. He emphasised SCO’s valuable role in the post-COVID period, notably in advancing economic recovery and improving supply chains. PM Modi emphasised India’s focus on people-centric growth, which also prioritises technology.
At the SCO Summit in Samarkand, emphasised on the constructive role SCO can play in the post-COVID era particularly in furthering economic recovery and strengthening supply chains. Highlighted India’s emphasis on people-centric growth which also gives importance to technology. pic.twitter.com/kwF5bDESkR
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2022
At the SCO Summit PM Modi also discussed India’s efforts to increase the popularity of millets and said that SCO can play a big role in marking 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
The second day of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit began with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others, in attendance.
This is the first time the two world leaders, Xi Jinping and PM Modi, have met since the countries were locked in a standoff following the June 2020 Galwan Valley faceoff. Several rounds of high-level talks have taken place since then, and New Delhi and Beijing recently concluded disengagement at a critical site in Ladakh.
The summit, meanwhile, deliberated on regional security challenges, boosting trade and energy supplies among other issues. PM Modi, on the sidelines of the summit, held bilateral meetings with Putin, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev among other leaders.
Notably, the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996, had become the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2001 with the inclusion of Uzbekistan. With the addition of India and Pakistan in 2017 and the decision to admit Tehran as a full member in 2021, the SCO grew to become one of the world’s largest multilateral organisations, accounting for over 30% of the global GDP and 40% of the world’s population.
