INDIA has assumed the chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for 2023, and has planned a series of meetings, including the forthcoming defence ministerial in New Delhi and the meeting of foreign ministers in Goa.
The SCO is emerging as an important regional organisation in Eurasia given that its membership (China, Russia, India, Pakistan and the Central Asian Republics) represents more than 40 per cent of the world population and nearly a quarter of the global GDP.
In its early years, it focused on security issues and was guided by the ‘Shanghai spirit’, encapsulating the principles of mutual trust, equality, respect for cultural diversity and the pursuit of common development.
Of late, the SCO has begun to put more emphasis on tangible initiatives of regional economic cooperation.