India Sees SCO As Key Entity To Promote Defence Cooperation Among Member States: Rajnath Singh

India sees SCO as an important entity to promote defence cooperation among member states, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said addressing the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in Delhi

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday chaired the meeting of Defence Ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Delhi. In his opening remarks, Rajnath said that the Cooperation should unitedly fight terrorism for the member states to emerge stronger. He emphasised that the SCO forum provides an opportunity for the members to exchange views, share perspectives and concerns as it is an important platform to discuss solutions for the challenges the states are facing.

"We should unitedly fight terrorism. If SCO has to emerge stronger, we have to fight together. Terror groups are using new methods like social media and crowdfunding," Rajnath Singh said, as quoted by news agency PTI. "This forum provides an opportunity for all of us to exchange our views, share our perspectives and concerns. This is an important platform where we can discuss the challenges before us and find solutions," he added.

The Defence Minister emphasised that India sees SCO as an important entity to promote defence cooperation among member states. "We, as a nation, wish to further strengthen the spirit of trust and cooperation among the members of the SCO," he remarked.

He further stressed, "India is fully committed to making SCO stronger, contributing to the implementation of SCO's mandate and facing our common challenges.

"To ensure a secure, stable and prosperous region, we need to focus on our agenda. This will help in improving the quality of life of the people of each member country," he added.

 Defence Ministers of India, Russia, China and other member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu, Russia's Sergei Shoigu, Tajikistan's Colonel General Sherali Mirzo, Iran's Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani and Kazakhstan's Colonel General Ruslan Zhaksylykov are among those attending the meeting in Delhi.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was scheduled to participate in the meeting through virtual mode.

PTI reported officials involved in preparations for the meeting earlier as saying that the main focus of the deliberations would be on regional security situations including the developments in Afghanistan. They said enhancing coordination among the SCO member countries to effectively combat terrorism and extremism will be another priority. 

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. India was made an observer at the SCO in 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

India has shown a keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.