Founded in 2001, the SCO currently comprises eight member states, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
PM Modi has reached Qingdao in China to attend the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or SCO summit.
Leaders of the eight Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members and four observer nations will attend the summit.
The SCO has two sub-divisions, including Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat.The four pillars of the SCO Summit are: political, security (terrorism), economic, cultural.
This is the first time India will be participating in the summit as a member. India was given the membership of the SCO in June 2017.
PM Modi will also hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, apart from interacting with leaders of SCO nations on various subjects.
On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.
“I will be visiting Qingdao in China for the annual meeting of the Council of Heads of States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO),” Modi said in a Facebook post.
” I am excited to lead the Indian delegation for our first-ever meeting of the Council as a full member,” he said.
The officials said India is also likely to focus on importance of regional connectivity projects to boost trade among members of the SCO countries.
India has been strongly pushing for connectivity projects like the Chabahar port project and International North-South Transport Corridor to gain access to resource-rich central Asian countries.
“President Putin has come to China 19 times for visits and international events since 2000, outnumbering all other leaders of major countries,” Xi said. “He is the most well-known and most respected leader of a major country to the Chinese people. He is also my best friend and confidant.”
Sources indicated that India’s focus would be to include its concerns over cross border terrorism in the final outcome document.
This Summit will concentrate on methods to curb terrorism, radicalisation and extremism. They will also deliberate on global issues related to each country.
