SCO Summit in India today: Security, connectivity, trade in focus

The virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be hosted by India on Tuesday is expected to focus on regional security, economic connectivity and trade, while welcoming Iran as the latest member of the Eurasian grouping.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are set to be among the leaders attending the virtual summit. It will be the first multilateral meeting joined by Putin since a brief rebellion in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group on 24 June.

India is chairing the SCO for the first time this year since it became a full member of the grouping, along with Pakistan, in 2017. Besides Iran joining as a full member during Tuesday's summit, Belarus is set to sign a memorandum of obligations to become a member state.

The SCO summit is being held against the backdrop of India's strained relations with China and Pakistan. A military standoff between India and China on the Line of Actual Control for the past three years has taken bilateral relationship to its lowest ebb in six decades, while ties between New Delhi and Islamabad have been hit by the issue of terrorism.

The virtual summit is expected to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine crisis and bolstering cooperation between SCO states, especially ways to strengthen economic connectivity and trade, people familiar with the matter said, declining to be named. In this context, India has taken a number of steps to enhance connectivity and trade with central Asian states in recent years.

The theme for India's presidency of SCO is "SECURE" or security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environmental protection. As part of the focus on regional security, India has pushed for greater cooperation on de-radicalisation strategies.

India also created five pillars and focus areas of cooperation under SCO – start-ups and innovation, digital inclusion, empowering youth, traditional medicine, and shared Buddhist heritage. New initiatives in these sectors are expected to figure in the joint declaration and other documents to be issued at the end of the summit, the people said.

Representatives of two SCO bodies – the secretariat and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) – and six multilateral organisations will also join the summit. These organisations include the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Collective Security Treaty Organization and Eurasian Economic Union.

The SCO, created in 2001, comprises India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India's association with the grouping began as an observer in 2005.

Sameer Patil, a Mumbai-based security expert, said difficulties associated with ensuring the in-person attendance of the Chinese and Russian presidents could have been a factor in the decision to hold the summit virtually.

"The larger goal is the G20 summit and India doesn't want anything to complicate the holding of that meeting. While the SCO will continue to focus on connectivity and trade, one can't ignore the larger context, including Russia's continuing problems with the West over the Ukraine crisis and India's standoff with China," he said. "Whatever cooperation is agreed on will be subject to this larger context."