India keen to actively participate in SCO's activities: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India looks forward to enriching the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with its active participation and working closely with other members of the bloc, as he met the Secretary General of the grouping Rashid Alimov here.

The meeting with Alimov came hours after Modi landed in this picturesque coastal city of east China's Shandong province to attend the 18th summit of the SCO.

"This SCO Summit is special as this is India's first Summit as a full member. My talks with SCO Secretary-General, Mr Rashid Alimov were extremely productive," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.

"India looks forward to enriching the SCO with its active participation and working closely with other members," he said ahead of the opening of the two-day SCO summit.

The SCO Secretary General said that India is contributing greatly to the organisation since it became a full member of SCO in 2017, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Alimov conveyed to Modi that the International Day of Yoga would be celebrated at the SCO Headquarters in Beijing on June 16.

It is for the first time the Indian prime minister will be attending the SCO summit after India along with Pakistan became full-fledged members of the grouping last year.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.

Official statistics show that the combined GDP of the SCO's six founding members reached USD 12.63 trillion in 2017, increasing more than seven times from the 2001 level. During the same period, their total trade volume also grew more than seven-fold, reaching USD 4.9 trillion in 2017. The numbers have climbed further after the accession of India and Pakistan.

India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.