New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted India's economic performance and the growth of its startups and unicorn as he reiterated the vision to make the nation a manufacturing hub.
Attending the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), PM Modi said that India supports mutual trust and cooperation among the member countries. The SCO should try to create a resilient supply chain in our region, he emphasised.
He addressed the extended format of the SCO-CoHS in Uzbekistan's Samarkand and said that the Indian government wants to transform the country into a manufacturing hub.
"The world is overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Several disruptions occurred in the global supply chain because of the COVID and Ukraine crisis. We want to transform India into a manufacturing hub," PM Modi said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
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The Prime Minister highlighted India's economic performance as he mentioned that the country's economy is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5 per cent this year. "I'm glad that ours is one of the fastest growing economies among the largest economies of the world," he said.
He also brought attention to start-ups and unicorns being established in India. "We are focussing on a people-centric development model. We are supporting innovation in every sector. Today, there are more than 70,000 start-ups and over 100 unicorns in our country," PM Modi mentioned.
The Prime Minister raised the issue of "transit rights" of food supplies between the neighbouring nations and said that it took many months for India to send supplies to Afghanistan via Pakistan. He called for reliable, resilient, and diversified supply chains in the region.
He further mentioned that India will take an initiative for a new SCO working group on traditional medicines.
"In April 2022, WHO inaugurated its Global Centre for Traditional Medicines in Gujarat. This was the first and only global center by WHO for traditional treatment. India will take an initiative for a new SCO working group on traditional medicines," PM Modi said.
MEA on Thursday informed that New Delhi expects the discussions of the SCO Summit to cover topical, regional, and international issues as well as reform and expansion of the SCO. Other subjects expected to be discussed include the security situation and cooperation in the region, including strengthening connectivity and boosting trade.
About SCO Summit 2022
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is holding its first in-person summit after the COVID-19 pandemic in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand. The two-day summit provides the opportunity for all its eight heads of state to hold meetings and bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit on pressing global and regional issues of common concern.
The last in-person summit was held in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek in the year 2019. After that in 2020, the Moscow summit was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic while the 2021 summit at Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe was held in hybrid mode.
Launched in Shanghai in June 2001, the SCO has eight full members, including its six founding members such as China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017.
Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia are the observer countries. SCO's partner countries include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.
(With Agency Inputs)