Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu will Chair the 19th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government to be hosted by India in virtual format on 30 November 2020. It will be the first time that a Summit-level Meeting will be held under India’s Chairmanship, since it gained full -membership of the organization in 2017. This Summit is held annually at the level of Prime Ministers of SCO and deals primarily with the trade and economic agenda of the organization.
2.India considers the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important regional organization to promote cooperation in the areas of peace, security, trade, economy and culture. India is committed to widening our cooperation with SCO by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization.
3.India assumed the Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on 2 November 2019 as per rotation from the previous Chair – Uzbekistan and will complete its year -long tenure on 30 November 2020 by hosting the 19th session of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG).
4.The Prime Ministers from the SCO Member States of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will attend the SCO meeting on 30 November. Pakistan will be represented by the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Apart from the SCO Member States, the four Observer States of SCO will also participate- including the President of Afghanistan, the First Vice President of Iran, the Prime Minister of Belarus and the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia. Turkmenistan has been invited as a Special Guest of the Host and will be represented by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers. The two bodies of SCO will be represented by the SCO Secretary General and the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti Terrorist Structure (RATS). The Chairmen of the SCO Business Council and the SCO Interbank Association will also be present.
5.During the course of our Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020, India has particularly focused on creating three new pillars of cooperation : Startups and Innovation, Science and Technology and Traditional Medicine and also proposed many other concrete initiatives. India has offered to create and Chair a new Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation and to set up a new Expert Working Group on Cooperation in Traditional Medicine. India has also organized in the virtual format, the first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave(24-28 Nov) in which more than 200 young scientists participated, the first-ever Consortium of SCO Economic Think Tanks(20-21 Aug) and the first-ever SCO Startup Forum(27 Oct). In the B2B format, FICCI has convened the first SCO Business Conclave(23 Nov) with special emphasis on Cooperation in MSMEs through the national chapters of the SCO Business Council .
6.In this year, India has also hosted the meeting of SCO Ministers responsible for External Economy and Foreign Trade on 28th October and the meeting of SCO Ministers for Justice on 16th October in the video-conference format.
7.On the cultural- humanitarian side, India has implemented Hon’ble PM’s announcements made at the Bishkek Summit at the SCO Heads of State in 2019. They include: hosting the first-ever SCO Digital Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage by the National Museum, that will be inaugurated on 30 November and the translation of 10 classics of Indian regional literature into Russian and Chinese languages. India has also proposed to host the SCO Food Festival in 2021.
8. By Chairing the 19th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on 30 November, India hopes to further strengthen greater trade, economic and cultural cooperation within SCO by putting human beings at the center of SCO activities and to foster greater peace and prosperity in the region. We hope that India’s initiatives will not only be helpful for SCO Member States in overcoming the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but will also signal our continued commitment to strengthening the organization.
The 30 November Summit will end with the adoption of the Joint Communique under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Vice President of India.
New Delhi
November 28, 2020
