India to host SCO summit in virtual format

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held on July 4 in a virtual format chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said officials.

The reasons for changing the format of the meeting, which will be attended by dignitaries from the participating countries China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as observer countries Iran, Belarus and Mongolia, are not yet known. In addition, according to the organisers of the event, Turkmenistan will participate as a guest of the country currently leading the organisation. In this case it is India, which took over the rotating presidency of the SCO at the Samarkand summit in September 2022.

The event will also be attended by representatives of the leadership of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia.

During its SCO presidency, New Delhi created new areas of cooperation in sectors such as innovation and traditional medicine, digital inclusion, youth empowerment and highlighting the common Buddhist heritage, a release from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.

The state authorities view their tenure at the helm of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between member countries. As host, India organised a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 at the ministerial level, as reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.

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