Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two day visit to Astana for the SCO summit on June 8-9. The SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) is a Eurasian political, economic and military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India had been an observer country at the SCO since 2005 and had applied for a full membership in 2014.
SCO summit of the regional group is organised on June 8-9 in Kazakhstan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the summit, and India will be admitted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) there.
G V Srinivas, joint secretary of the Eurasia division in the Ministry of External Affairs, said, as per the Memorandum of Obligations, which is the confirmation (of membership) by the heads of the states of the existing members of the SCO, is going to happen in Astana capital of Kazakhstan. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, are likely to meet at the sidelines of the summit at Astana. When asked about the any possibility of meeting the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Srinivas said that, there is no such request from their side, nor any proposal from India’s side.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he looks forward to deepening India’s association with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). He further added “India has long-standing relations with the SCO members and he looked forward to progressing them further through the grouping for “mutual betterment and growth of our countries and our people.” He also said that “Together, we will harvest new opportunities for beneficial engagement and redouble efforts to address common challenges that may come in the way of realizing our full potential.”
On completion of the process, India will become a full member of the SCO upon which SCO will represent over 40 per cent of humanity and nearly 20 per cent of the global GDP.
On the evening of June 9, he will also attend the inauguration of the Astana Expo with the theme of “Future Energy”.