Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Council of Heads of State meeting, Hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi On Tuesday, for the first time, India presided over the summit of regional countries. India became a full SCO member in 2017 along with Pakistan. The government recognized that joining the Eurasian grouping was important because the member states account for a third of global GDP, a fifth of global trade, a fifth of global oil reserves and about 44% of natural gas reserves. Also important is its focus on regional security and connectivity – areas that are critical to India’s development and its challenges, such as terrorism in Pakistan, and Chinese aggression as well as the Belt and Road initiative. Staying “inside the tent” is important, especially when Pakistan is a member, even if it means holding joint exercises under the SCO regional anti-terrorist structure. SCO also provides India an interface with Central Asian markets and resources. Finally, joining the SCO was an important part of India’s stated ambitions on “multi-alignment” and “strategic autonomy” as well as becoming a “balancing power” in the world, and it seems no coincidence that the Modi government is reviving the Quad. joined in. In the same year, the US, Japan and Australia took full membership of the SCO. In the last year, it has become an economic necessity as India has chosen to remain neutral on the Ukraine war, benefiting from fuel and fertilizer purchases from Russia.
Therefore, it was expected that India’s turn to chair the SCO this year would be a big event, rivaling the fanfare expected around the G-20 meeting in September. Furthermore, given Russia and China’s obstruction of the G-20 Joint Communiqué on which India is keen to build a consensus, the SCO summit will be a vantage point for Mr. Modi to negotiate a solution with his counterparts . However, India’s decision to postpone the SCO summit due to the US state visit of the Prime Minister and then convert it into a virtual summit may adversely affect the outcome of the SCO. Given the hostilities along the LAC, India’s concerns about hosting Xi Jinping, or a possible ‘grandstand’ by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif, or even the prospect of receiving Russian President Vladimir Putin could be a factor. Whatever the reason, while members rejected the New Delhi Declaration and joint statements on radicalization and digital transformation, the government was unable to reach a consensus on other agreements, including making English the official SCO language, while India, despite being the chair, Could do this Do not support any roadmap on economic cooperation, possibly due to concerns over China’s impression. With the end of the SCO presidency, governments are now realizing the law of diminishing returns on their SCO engagement – which could make the task of hosting the G-20 even more difficult.