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People familiar with the matter said that the foreign ministers of the SCO member states will conclude their deliberations on Friday a set of 15 resolutions or proposals for consideration at the group’s summit in July.
The proposals aim to expand cooperation among the SCO member states in the fields of trade, technology, trade, security and socio-cultural relations.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ Council meeting will be held at the seaside resort of Taj Exotica in Benaulim, Goa, under the chairmanship of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Among those who have already arrived in Goa for the meeting are Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Uzbekistan’s Bakhtior Saidov.
The aforementioned people said that Friday’s meeting is expected to finalize agreements to include Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar and the Maldives as dialogue partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
They said the process of accepting Iran and Belarus as full members of the grouping had reached its final stage.
People also said that the proposal for national currency trade settlement by SCO member countries is also part of the group’s overall agenda to boost cooperation.
The SCO foreign ministers are also expected to discuss pressing global issues, including the Ukraine crisis and the situation in Afghanistan.
“The most important work before the SCO foreign ministers is to assess the status of the decisions that will be approved at the SCO summit in New Delhi in July,” Minister (Economic Relations) of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Dmo Rafi told reporters.
The meeting will also provide an opportunity to discuss the state of multilateral cooperation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, regional and global issues of interest, reform and modernization of the organization, and progress in accepting Iran and Belarus into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as new member states. He said.
“As you know, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified India’s priorities to the SCO Chairman with the theme ‘Towards a Safe SCO’,” Ravi said.
He said the acronym SECURE was introduced by Modi at the 2018 Qingdao Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and will outline key areas of focus under India’s current presidency.
“Secure” means security, economic development, communication, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and environmental protection.
Under its chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, India has hosted more than 100 meetings and events.
India emerges as a major player among the SCO countries, although China and Russia are the main drivers of the grouping that is increasingly seen as an “alternative” to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
India is hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Security Council meeting when its relations with China come under severe strain due to the ongoing border dispute in eastern Ladakh.
People familiar with the preparations for the meeting said that the foreign ministers will discuss the overarching challenges facing the region in light of the current geopolitical turmoil and that the state of bilateral relations between the member states will not affect the discussions.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest international organizations across the region.
It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.
India was appointed as an observer in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2005 and has generally participated in the group’s ministerial-level meetings, which mainly focus on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
India has shown great interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which deals specifically with issues related to security and defence.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is republished from a syndicated news agency feed.)
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