SCO Summit: Foreign ministers expected to finalise 15 proposals today

Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries will finalise in their deliberations on Friday a set of 15 decisions or proposals for consideration at the grouping’s summit in July, people familiar with the matter said.

The proposals are aimed at expanding cooperation among the SCO member countries in the areas of trade, technology, commerce, security and socio-cultural ties.

The SCO Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting at the sea-side Taj Exotica resort in Goa’s Benaulim will be chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Uzbekistan’s Bakhtiyor Saidov are among those who have already arrived in Goa to attend the meeting.

The people cited above said Friday’s meeting is expected to finalise agreements for the inclusion of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Myanmar and the Maldives as dialogue partners in the SCO. The process to admit Iran and Belarus as full members of the grouping is reaching its final stage, they said.

The people also said a proposal on settlement of trade in national currencies by the SCO member countries is also part of the over- all agenda of the grouping to boost cooperation.

The SCO foreign ministers are also expected to deliberate on pressing global issues, including the Ukraine crisis and the situation in Afghanistan.

“The most important work before the SCO foreign ministers will be to assess the status of the decisions that will be approved at the SCO summit in New Delhi in July,” Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Dammu Ravi told reporters.

“The meeting will also give an opportunity to discuss the state of multilateral cooperation in the SCO, regional and global issues of interest, reform and mod- ernisation of the organisation and the progress of admitting Iran and Belarus to the SCO as new member states,” he said.

“As you are aware, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has articulated India’s priorities for the SCO chair with the theme of ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’,” Ravi said. He said the acronym SECURE was given by Modi at the 2018 Qingdao summit of the SCO and it will lay down the main focus areas under India’s ongoing chairmanship.