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EAM S Jaishankar to represent India at virtual SCO meet on Tuesday
The annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s council of heads of government focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the SCO and approves the grouping’s annual budget
External affairs minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) council of heads of government on November 1 to shape the grouping’s trade and economic agenda, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
This will be the first meeting of the SCO since India took over the bloc’s rotating presidency at the summit held in Uzbekistan in mid-September. Jaishankar represented the country at the last meeting of the council in Kazakhstan in November last year.
The 21st meeting of the council will be held virtually, the external affairs ministry said. The meeting focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the SCO and approves the grouping’s annual budget.
“India remains actively engaged in various SCO activities/dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as other multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework,” the statement said.
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The meeting will be attended by the nine SCO member states – India, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – and observer states. The SCO secretary general, executive director of the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Turkmenistan and other invited guests will also participate.
Former vice president M Venkaiah Naidu had chaired the 19th virtual meeting of the SCO council of heads of governments when it was hosted by India in November 2020, in which the country focused on creating three new pillars of cooperation – startups and innovation, science and technology, and traditional medicine.
India will host the SCO Summit in mid-2023, just months ahead of hosting the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September next year.
