EAM Jaishankar holds dialogue with SCO Secretary General during Goa meet

SCO Summit: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conducted a dialogue with SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Thursday.

The agenda of the meeting between Jaishankar and Zhang Ming, which was held in Goa, was focused on the overall agenda of the ongoing SCO foreign minister’s meeting.

“Started my meetings at SCO CFM with a productive interaction with Secretary General Zhang Ming. Appreciate his support for India’s SCO Presidency,” Jaishankar tweeted.

Jaishankar detailed several issues which will be part of the agenda at the SCO CFM.

“Indian presidency is driven by a commitment to SECURE SCO. Its key focus areas are startups, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, buddhist heritage and science & technology,” the EAM tweeted.

“Looking forward to a successful CFM in Goa,” he added.

Jaishankar is also scheduled to conduct three more bilateral meetings with his counterparts from three other SCO countries on Thursday. These include the foreign ministers of Russia, China and Uzbekistan.

#WATCH | External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar meets SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa. pic.twitter.com/LUeBuPL2gL

— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2023

Meanwhile, MEA Secretary ER Dammu Ravi informed that 'Secure-SCO' is the focus of India's SCO Chairmanship in 2023. The shared Buddhist heritage of SCO nations will also be highlighted during the summit.

“PM Modi has articulated India’s priorities for the SCO Chair with the theme of “Towards a SECURE SCO”. The acronym SECURE was given by PM at the 2018 Qingdao Summit of SCO and it will lay down the main focus areas under our ongoing chairmanship. SECURE stands for Security, Economic development, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and Environmental protection,” he tweeted.

“Most importantly and to implement PM’s vision of highlighting our millennia-old civilizational linkages under our chairmanship, we have highlighted the “Buddhist Heritage of SCO Member States. Apart from this, we also hosted the First-ever Conference of Buddhist Experts of SCO member States in New Delhi involving Member States, Observers and Dialogue Partners, as well as an exhibition on this theme at National Museum,” he added.

The level of bilateral connections between member countries will have no bearing on the discussions during the SCO foreign ministers’ conclave, where the foreign ministers will examine the general issues the area is experiencing in light of the current geopolitical unrest.

One of the biggest transregional international groups, the SCO is a significant economic and security bloc.

The presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan established the SCO at a conference in Shanghai in 2001.

In 2017, the SCO had added Pakistan and India as permanent members. India was granted observer status at the SCO in 2005 and has regularly taken part in the group's ministerial-level meetings, which primarily address security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

India has expressed a strong desire to strengthen its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which focuses on security and defense-related problems.

(With agency inputs)

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