India is expected to increase the importance of a rules-based world order and the need for concerted action against terrorism when Prime Minister Narendra Modi joins the heads of state of China and Pakistan at the virtual summit of the Organization for Cooperation Shanghai (OCS) on Tuesday. .
This will be the first time that Modi and President Xi Jinping will be on the same virtual platform since the border confrontation between India and China began in May. The two sides are discussing proposals for disengagement at friction points along the Line of Royal Control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector and the top military commanders of the two sides are expected to meet again this week.
This is the first time that the annual meeting of the SCO heads of state has been held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia, the current president of the SCO, has organized most of the group’s meetings practically this year, except for the meetings of foreign ministers and defense ministers that were held in Moscow in September.
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The economic impact of the pandemic, efforts to strengthen the rules-based world order, the fight against terrorism and the turbulent peace process in Afghanistan are expected to feature in discussions among SCO leaders.
The SCO Summit is one of five virtual meetings this month that top leaders from India and China will join. As with all recent virtual summits and multilateral meetings, there will be no bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
President Vladimir Putin will chair Tuesday’s meeting and the heads of state of the eight members of the SCO – Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – will speak for 10 minutes each. The heads of state of four observer countries – Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia – will join the meeting, and the SCO Secretary General and the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RATS) will also address the meeting.
The SCO Summit is the main body of the grouping that sets the agenda for next year. The meeting is also expected to focus on all major areas of activity, including politics, security, trade and the economy, and will conclude with the adoption of the Moscow Declaration containing the members’ joint position on global issues. and regional.
There will also be statements on topics such as the digital economy, Covid-19, the fight against terrorism, including on the Internet, and the fight against drug trafficking. The summit is also expected to make decisions on major projects and business and economic initiatives.
Modi, who has led the Indian delegation to the annual summit since India became a full member of the SCO in 2017, had outlined his vision with the acronym HEALTH, which encompasses health cooperation, economic cooperation, alternative energy, literature. and culture, a society free from terrorism. and humanitarian cooperation – at last year’s summit in Bishkek.
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