India on Monday did not join with other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in supporting the China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which New Delhi has consistently opposed because a key part of it passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The BRI or “One Belt, One Road” initiative, President Xi Jinping’s flagship program for trade and connectivity, was endorsed by Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in a joint statement issued at the end of SCO council of heads of government meeting hosted by India.
The statement said that the other countries, while “reaffirming their support for the China One Belt, One Road Initiative (OBOR) (BRI), highlight the ongoing work on the joint implementation of this project, including efforts to building bridges. [between] The Eurasian Economic Union and OBOR ”.
The council of heads of government is the second highest body of the SCO and is responsible for managing the commercial and economic agenda. This was the first time that India hosted a meeting of the body since it was admitted to the eight-member group in 2017.
India has repeatedly said that it will not join BRI because it does not offer a level playing field for the country’s companies. It has also opposed BRI because a key component, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), passes through PoK.
New Delhi’s trade concerns related to Beijing were a key factor behind India’s decision not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Association (RCEP), the trade agreement recently signed by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean) and Australia, China. Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
Former ambassador Vishnu Prakash noted that the SCO meeting took place at a time when India is separating from China and “is no longer the usual” between the two countries. There is also an “unholy alliance” between China and Pakistan that will thwart India’s initiatives, he said.
One of India’s main goals for joining the SCO was the desire to forge deeper ties with the Central Asian states, but the country now needs to assess whether these “efforts were in line with the results,” Prakash said.
During Monday’s meeting, the heads of delegations said that the SCO has established itself as an effective platform for cooperation to strengthen multilateralism, the rule of international law and the UN Charter, and to ensure “equal, mutual, security indivisible, comprehensive and reliable. [and] sustainable socio-economic development ”.
Heads of delegations called for deepening cooperation to support a transparent, open, inclusive, fair and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system based on the principles and rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to promote a “global economy open “. the statement said.
SCO members also highlighted the need to reform the WTO, including enhancing its key functions, such as negotiations, monitoring and dispute resolution. They also noted the importance of using international and multilateral organizations to form a “broad, open, mutually beneficial and equal space for interaction in Eurasia.”
India proposed the creation of a special task force on innovation and business creation and a task force of experts in traditional medicine.
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