Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined India’s contribution to SCO especially in the last six years as a member state during the summit held in a virtual format and highlighted the need to work together to eliminate the menace of terrorism in the region and globally.

Addressing a special press briefing on the 23rd summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said PM Modi also highlighted the new spheres of cooperation which were introduced and nurtured by India in the field of startup and innovation. Fight against terrorism as the basic mandate of SCO still remains a central goal of SCO, something that was underlined by PM Modi, and echoed in the room by the other countries, Kwatra said.

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The SCO summit was chaired by PM Modi.

“Prime Minister underlined India’s contribution to SCO especially in the last six years as a member state. Highlighted the new spheres of cooperation, introduced and nurtured by India in the SCO, especially in fields of startup and innovation, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, digital inclusion and shared Buddhist heritage of SCO member states,” Kwatra said.

Referring to the menace of terrorism, Kwatra said the Prime Minister highlighted that there is need to work together to eliminate the menace of terrorism in the region and globally, in consistency with article 1 of the SCO charter.

He said there was need to eliminate safe havens, the flow of finance to such activities.

“In terms of the flow of discussions and the points that were covered by different leaders at this summit..all of them exchanged views on topical, regional and international issues, on how to further deepen the cooperation among this SCO members states within the format,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, in an apparent dig at Pakistan and China, called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to not hesitate to condemn countries that use cross-border terrorism as ‘policy instruments’ and shelter terrorists.

“Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies and give shelter to terrorists,” Prime Minister Modi said adding that the SCO should not hesitate to criticise such countries and “there should be no double standards on terrorism.”

The prime minister, who addressed the summit through video conference, said that “terrorism is a threat to regional and global peace, we will have to fight against terrorism.”

“Terrorism has become the prime danger for both regional as well as global peace, and decisive action is necessary to deal with it. Terrorism in whichever form or expression, we have to collectively fight against it. Some countries use cross-border terrorism as instrument of their policies and harbour terrorists. SCO should not refrain from criticising such nations,” PM Modi said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, China’s President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin among others participated in the summit.
PM Modi also noted that security, economic development, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and environmental protection are pillars of India’s vision for SCO.

India joined the SCO in 2005 as an observer country and became a full member of the group at the Astana Summit in 2017.

At the SCO Summit in Samarkand in September 2022, India took over the chairmanship of the SCO for the first time from Uzbekistan.