Ambassador Bambawale’s interview to @CCTV on India’s expectation at the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China. Video Link: https://t.co/9vw9U5OGYb — India in China (@EOIBeijing) June 6, 2018 Know more about India’s role in SCO and bilateral cooperation with China~Ambassador Bambawale’s written interview to China Daily. Link: https://t.co/4UGA9by4dE pic.twitter.com/cGnrTrFlDI — India in China (@EOIBeijing) June 8, 2018 What is the SCO? The SCO is a Eurasian inter-governmental organisation, the creation of which was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism. (Read more here) This will be the first time India will be participating in the SCO Summit after being granted full membership of the bloc, along with Pakistan, in June last year. Stating that he is excited to lead the Indian delegation for India's first ever participation in the Summit as a full member, Modi said in a pre-departure statement: "I believe that the Qingdao Summit will further enrich the SCO agenda, while heralding a new beginning for India's engagement with the SCO." On 9th and 10th June, I will be in Qingdao, China to take part in the annual SCO Summit. This will be India’s first SCO Summit as a full member. Will be interacting with leaders of SCO nations and discussing a wide range of subjects with them. https://t.co/7mwQLaHGkS — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 8, 2018 'Qingdao Summit to herald new beginning for India-SCO cooperation' Ahead of his departure for Qingdao, PM Modi said on Friday that the meeting will herald a new beginning for India's engagement with the Eurasian bloc.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning departed for China's Qingdao to attend the two-day long 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
On Friday, the Prime Minister posted a message regarding the summit on his official Facebook account.
"The SCO has a rich agenda for cooperation, ranging from fighting terrorism, separatism and extremism to promoting cooperation in connectivity, commerce, customs, law, health and agriculture; protecting the environment and mitigating disaster risk, and fostering people-to-people relations," Prime Minister Modi said.
He also said he would be holding multiple meetings with the heads of various SCO member states on the sidelines of the summit.
This will be India's first participation in the summit as a full-time member of the organisation. India, along with Pakistan, became a full-time member during the Astana summit in June 2017.
Prime Minister Modi is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping apart from holding meetings with various other participating leaders.
Further, the member-countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, are expected to sign the Qingdao Declaration.
The declaration will hold details of the significant mechanism for resisting global terror activities.
The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation that focuses on strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states and promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, and making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security, and stability in the region.
The SCO has two sub-divisions, including Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and SCO Secretariat.