Ahead of SCO summit, PM Modi highlights bonhomie among members

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted the friendship and multi-dimensional ties among member-states of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), ahead of departing for the two-day summit in China's Qingdao city.

Prime Minister Narnedra Modi, who is scheduled to depart on Saturday, posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.

" The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk; and fostering people-to-people relations," Prime Minister Modi said.

He also said he would be holding multiple meetings with the heads of various SCO member states on the sidelines of the summit.

This will be India's first participation in the summit as full-time member of the organisation. India, along with Pakistan, became full-time member during Astana summit in June 2017.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.

Earlier yesterday, India's ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale said India and the SCO organisation will continue to work in counter-terrorism area.

Further, the member-countries are expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration which will hold details of significant mechanism for resisting the global terror activities.

In April, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Beijing to attend SCO's preparatory meeting.

On the other hand, the SCO General Secretary Rashid Alimov is preparing to hold the summit in a 'Eurasian G8" format which would "determine the new trajectory of the organisation's further development, taking into account significant changes in the system of international relations and increased global threats and challenges" as per a March 3 release published on the SCO's official website.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation focusing on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states and promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, and making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

The SCO has two sub-divisions including Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat.

Its member-countries include India, Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.