Xi Jinping , Shehbaz Sharif to join India-hosted SCO meet

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, June 30

China, Russia and Pakistan have confirmed participation in the next week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which for the first time will be hosted by India, though in a virtual mode. India holds the rotating presidency of the organisation this year.

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At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of the SCO on July 4 and deliver “important remarks”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release. This is the first official announcement about Xi’s participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India. Similarly, the Pakistan Foreign Office announced the participation of PM Shehbaz Sharif in the summit. It mentioned that the PM had received an invitation from his Indian counterpart. Till last week, Pakistan was noncommittal about its participation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already confirmed his attendance, so has neighbour Belarus which is hoping to become a full member by next year. This year, Iran is expected to be accorded the status as the ninth SCO member.

India has fixed the theme of the summit around the acronym “SECURE”, which stands for “security, economy and trade, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environment”.

Mongolia has also been invited to attend the summit as an observer. Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar and the UAE are interested to join the SCO as dialogue partners which is one rung below full membership. Bahrain is likely to be accepted as a dialogue partner at the summit.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping, including PM Modi, Xi and Putin.