Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Indian delegation at the 21st meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Friday and virtually join the summit of heads of state via video link. Minister of external affairs S Jaishankar will on Friday represent India at the SCO summit, which can be held during a hybrid format at the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe. this is often the fourth such summit where India are going to be participating as a full-fledged member of the SCO, and it assumes a special significance in light of the rapidly evolving situation within the war-torn land of Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.
The SCO summit are going to be attended by the leaders of the organisation’s member states, observer states, secretary-general of the SCO, executive-director of the SCO regional anti-terrorist structure (RATS), president of Turkmenistan, and other invited guests. Jaishankar is additionally set to represent India during a meeting on Afghanistan of the Russia-led peace Treaty Organization (CSTO) on an equivalent day.
The joint meetings are expected to supply India with the chance to look at closely things in Afghanistan, especially in light of concerns about the military establishment in Pakistan and its ties with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The ANI press agency , citing people conversant in the main target areas of dialogue at the SCO summit, reported that India will discuss the present politico-security situation within the region, especially Afghanistan; the fallout of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic; the expansion of membership of the organisation, including discussions on full membership, dialogue partner, and observer status; and multilateral economic cooperation.
India also will discuss counter-terrorism, economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and other topical problems with regional and international importance, the agency added Jaishankar said last week that India has always stood with the Afghan people and involved an unfettered flow of humanitarian aid to the war-torn land. India has involved the worldwide community to jointly cause a positive and enabling environment in Afghanistan; however, this needs cooperation from foreign nations and there’s always the likelihood of vested interests.
China’s secretary of state Wang Yi, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, Iran’s Hossein Amir Abdollahian, and Pakistan’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi are expected to attend the SCO meetings in Dushanbe Abdollahian, who assumed office in August, was set to visit India last week but later deferred his visit. However, the newly-appointed Iranian secretary of state might still visit Delhi in time , people conversant in the event said, although fresh dates for his visit are yet to be fixed.
India is in no rush to recognise the new rulers of Afghanistan; it instead attaches supreme importance to the argument that Afghan territory must not be used for terrorism or anti-India activities.