PM Modi to host SCO summit virtually today, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping

The upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit will be hosted by India virtually on Tuesday. All SCO members, including China and Pakistan, are expected to attend the summit. The involvement of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to be a major event highlight.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, will also be present at the meeting. Notably, Russia has been facing condemnation from across the world for initiating war against Ukraine.

On June 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone to discuss bilateral cooperation and organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Group of Twenty.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will preside over the meeting, where important topics including terrorism, regional security, and economic growth will be discussed. Security, Economic Development, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environmental Protection are the cornerstones of India's chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

India's SCO chairmanship theme is based on an acronym that Prime Minister Narendra Modi created at the 2018 SCO summit in Qingdao.

Participating nations at Tuesday's SCO meeting

Virtual participation from other SCO countries, including Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is anticipated.

In addition to the member countries, we now have three invited Observer States: Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia. Turkmenistan is the guest of the Chair, as is customary within the SCO. The Secretariat and SCO RATS heads will also be in attendance.

It should be noted that Pakistan has several internal problems, such as high inflation and political unrest. The country has been cut off from the rest of the world for providing safe haven to terrorists.

Topics of Critical Importance at the SCO Virtual Summit

The member countries are likely to examine the security situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine issue and methods to increase collaboration between SCO states, etc. The countries will also address points on strengthening economic connection and commerce. After first joining the organization alongside Pakistan, India is now serving as its president.