Next week, Goa will again hog the limelight on the global platform when it will be hosting a two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet during May 4 and 5. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is likely to lead a Pakistani delegation to Goa for this meet and it will be the first visit by a key Pakistani leader to India since the then PM Nawaz Sharif’s trip to New Delhi for PM Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony in 2014. In all likelihood, the Chinese Foreign Minister will also attend the meet.
The primary objective is to strengthen mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states inorder to promoting effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, research and technology and culture and aslo enhance ties in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc. And most importantly, maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.
The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year. The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 between the China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. On June 15, 2001, the leaders of these nations and Uzbekistan met in Shanghai to announce a new organization with deeper political and economic cooperation; the SCO Charter was signed on July 7, 2002 and entered into force on September 19, 2003.
Its membership has since expanded to eight states, with India and Pakistan joining on June 9, 2017. Several countries are engaged as observers or dialogue partners. Four Observer States (Belarus, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mongolia) and six Dialogue Partners were involved in granting full membership (Nepal, Armenia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Turkey). SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defence organisation. It is the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia, 40 per cent of the world population. Its combined GDP is around 20 per cent of global GDP.
India has maintained an active engagement with the organization since it became a full-fledged Member State in 2017. In 2020, India hosted for the first time, the meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government, the second-highest decision-making body of the organization. India has carved a niche for itself by emphasizing on three new pillars of cooperation in SCO – startups and innovation, science and technology and traditional medicine.
The meet in Goa gives another opportunity, especially for countries like India, China and Pakistan to understand each other better and to subside the level of bitterness which lately developed when India had altercations with China at Gulwan Valley and the Pulwama attack allegedly orchestrated by Pakistan in which nearly 50 our brave hearts were martyred.
In media circles, it already being discussed whether there will any talks on the sidelines of this meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto. The signals being sent by the external affairs ministry of India indicates that such meetings at the sidelines of this SCO meet may not take place. In fact, Jaishankar very recently while on a visit to Panama City had vehemently criticised Pakistan for fuelling cross-border terrorism.
Very recently we had seen the outcome of the G-20 foreign ministers meet at New Delhi which resulted in no joint statement. Without any joint statements, the meeting is not considered conclusive and it basically becomes a platform to greet each other and exchange pleasantries. The SCO meeting next is also giving signals and it will basically become a photo-op for the foreign ministers of 8-member countries. The biggest beneficiary however, will be state of Goa which is getting yet another opportunity to host and important international event.
