What is SCO summit?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) also known as Shanghai Pact is a Eurasian political, economic and security alliance. It was created on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China. In the year 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and hereafter security and economic architecture in the Eurasian region dissolved. This resulted in the inception of the new framework and so the SCO came into existence.
The original Shanghai Five were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The SCO was formed in the year 2001, with Uzbekistan included. It extended in 2017 to include India and Pakistan.
PM Modi arrives in Kyrgyzstan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed at Manas International Airport this afternoon to attend the two-day SCO Summit in Bishkek which begins today. He will combine a bilateral visit to Kyrgyzstan along with the SCO summit apart from meeting other Central Asian leaders on the side-lines of the summit.
PM's agenda
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the global security situation as well as economic cooperation will be on the agenda at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, and asserted that his visit to the Central Asian country will strengthen India's ties with the SCO member states.
In the view of the upcoming meet PM Modi said, “We attach special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interaction in the region”.
PM Modi will inaugurate a business forum and delegation level talks with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. This is an endeavor to promote commercial linkages between the two nations. The bilateral relations between India and Kyrgyzstan have become stronger since 2015 after Modi’s historic visit to Central Asia.
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Besides, India has extended full cooperation to the chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic over the past year, PM Modi had said. "The Summit is expected to discuss the global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and topical issues of international and regional importance. On the sidelines of the Summit, I also plan to meet several leaders bilaterally," he said before embarking his journey to country.
Why SCO is important for India
For India, SCO is an important base for regular interactions with Russia and China, both at the head of state and ministerial level.
PM Modi at the SCO in 2018 reiterated the importance of economic development and connectivity. SCO is a plausible platform to advance India’s Connect Central Asia policy.
Modi will take part in various multilateral programmes and also meet world leaders in separate bilateral meetings. In order to enhance its presence in the Eurasian region India will have to probe and upgrade its status.
Modi, who will address the Summit tomorrow, is expected to focus on terrorism as well.
PM Modi's schedule
The Prime Minister has a packed schedule on Thursday as he will be holding bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Summit shortly after reaching the Kyrgyz capital.
After the meetings, Modi will join an informal dinner hosted by Jeenbekov for the SCO leaders.
It will be the first time that the Prime Minister will share the same table with his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan amid strained relations between the two neighbours. India has already clarified that there will be no official meeting between Modi and Khan.
Later in the evening, the Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Modi and Imran Khan
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will also attend the summit and there was speculation that he and Modi may hold a meeting on the sidelines of the multilateral forum. This will be the first time two leaders will come face to face after months of tension between two countries, which began with February 14 Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy in which at least 40 jawans were killed. However, on Monday, the MEA spokesperson said no such meeting has been arranged between the two leaders.
Earlier, India announced that Modi will not take the Pakistani air space for flying to the SCO summit in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan and instead will fly by the circuitous route through Oman and Iran.
(with inputs from PTI)