This is the first time after the 2020 COVID pandemic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will be attending the two-day summit.
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Economic significance of PM Modi's visit:
1. PM Modi is expected to meet Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan where the two leaders are expected to discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20. Apart from this, he might meet Chinese President Xi Jingping. The Prime Minister would also have bilateral meetings with other leaders during the summit. "Economic cooperation in the SCO is an important question, which will be discussed in the SCO meetings. When we are meeting with central Asian countries, we discuss connectivity which will promote trade, investment and other exchanges between Indian and central Asian countries," Indian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat had told ANI.
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2. SCO can also be a vocal platform for India to push the agenda of regional and cross-regional connectivity that could force Pakistan to moderate its views and approach to linking Central Asia and South Asia.
3. Pakistan has stonewalled the strategic, economic and cultural interests of India by not facilitating connectivity and energy projects like Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) power transmission line via its territory. In this context, India can also use the SCO to push for the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). India, Iran and Uzbekistan also established a trilateral working group in 2020 to seek greater convergence on Chabahar port and other connectivity projects. The INSTC could be a game-changer for SCO member-states as it will connect them with India and the Indian Ocean and diversify their trade partners and routes. The role of Iran will be critical in this regard.
4. SCO also has potential in various new sectors, wherein all the member-states could find converging interests. India has already pushed hard for cooperation in Startups and Innovation, Science and Technology and Traditional Medicine.
5. India will also assume the presidency at the end of the summit until September 2023 and will also host the summit next year. Apart from this, India will also assume the presidency of the G20 (Group of Twenty) for a year starting 1 December 2022 and is expected to host over 200 meetings across the country during presidency tenure. “The next G20 summit will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and September 10, 2023," MEA had said
The Shanghai Five, formed in 1996, became the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2001 with the inclusion of Uzbekistan. With India and Pakistan entering the grouping in 2017 and the decision to admit Tehran as a full member in 2021, SCO became one of the largest multilateral organisations, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the global GDP and 40 per cent of the world's population.
The 2020 Moscow summit was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the 2021 summit at Dushanbe was conducted in a hybrid mode. SCO observer states include Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia, while Dialogue partners include Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan.
