New Delhi, July 3: India will virtually host Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Tuesday which will witness the participation of President Xi Jinping of China and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The meeting of SCO Heads of State will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The major issues that are expected to be on the agenda include terrorism, regional security and prosperity.
The theme of India's chairship of SCO- SECURE is derived from the acronym coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2018 SCO Qingadao Summit.
It stands for S: Security, E: Economic development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, E: Environmental protection.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will also participate in the summit this week.
This comes at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war has completed over a war. India has condemned the war, but has not voted against Russia at any forum.
Speaking to President Putin on the sidelines of SCO summit in Uzbekistan last year, PM Modi also said, "This is not the era of war", a statement that even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.
Earlier on June 30, PM Modi held a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation including Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G20.
All the SCO Member States -- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- have been invited to attend the Summit.
In addition, Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States. As per the SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair. Heads of the two SCO Bodies -- the Secretariat and the SCO RATS -- will also be present.
One of the major highlights of the summit, Pakistan and China have expressed their willingness to participate in the summit.
Pakistan which has been isolated globally for harbouring terrorists, is set to attend the summit.
With Chinese aggression in 2020 at Galwan, there has been an ongoing stand-off and amassing of troops in large numbers at Indian positions on the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The Indian side has also deployed a heavy number of troops and developed infrastructure at a very fast pace for them.
