India has decided to host the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) summit in virtual format on 4 July 2023. 

The external affairs ministry announced on Tuesday that the 22nd summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be held in the “virtual format” and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ministry didn’t give any reasons for the decision.

"Under India’s first-ever chairmanship, the 22nd summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be held in the virtual format on July 4, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the MEA said in a statement.

People familiar with the matter said the option of holding the summit in the virtual format was on the table considering various aspects and a final decision on it was taken following consultations with the member states.

All the SCO member states- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan- have been invited to attend the Summit, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States. As per SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair.

Heads of two SCO bodies – the secretariat and SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) - will also attend the summit, along with the heads of six international and regional organizations, including the UN, ASEAN, and Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

The theme of this year’s Summit is ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’. The SECURE acronym was coined by PM Modi at the 2018 SCO Summit and stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said, “India’s Chairmanship of SCO has been a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between Member States. India has hosted a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 Ministerial-level meetings.”

"In addition, India has worked towards fostering greater people-to-people ties that celebrate the historical and civilizational bonds between our nations. These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO cultural and tourist capital for 2022-23," it said.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organizations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.

Image source: Twitter