PM Modi to Miss SCO Summit; EAM Jaishankar to Represent India

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will stand in for India at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana next week, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opted not to attend.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Russia from July 8 to 9, marking his first trip to the country in almost five years. Following his visit to Russia, he is expected to travel to Austria on July 9 for a two-day visit.

It appears that Mr. Modi’s decision to skip the SCO summit is due to his planned visits to Russia and Austria. However, there has been no official confirmation regarding his trips to these countries.

The SCO summit, set for July 3 and 4, will likely focus on regional security issues and ways to enhance connectivity and trade.

“The Indian delegation at the SCO summit will be led by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during his weekly media briefing on Friday.

Key topics at the summit are expected to include the situation in Afghanistan, the conflict in Ukraine, and strengthening overall security cooperation among SCO member countries.

The SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is a significant economic and security organization and one of the largest transregional international groups.

Typically, the Indian Prime Minister attends the SCO summit.

In a phone call on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi assured Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of India’s full support for the success of the summit.

Kazakhstan is hosting the summit as the current chair of the SCO.

India chaired the SCO last year and hosted the summit virtually in July.

India’s involvement with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer. It became a full member at the Astana summit in 2017.

India has shown strong interest in enhancing its security cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which focuses on security and defense issues.

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

Pakistan, along with India, became a permanent member in 2017.