SCO Summit: ‘Looking Forward…’, Says Modi as He Lands in Uzbekistan; Likely to Meet Putin on Friday | Key Points

The SCO Summit in the historic city of Samarkand is already turning out to be an action-packed event with the first in-person meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, since the start of the Ukraine conflict, taking place on Thursday. All eyes are now on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached the ancient Silk Road city late in the night and is set to meet Putin on Friday.

The summit is the first in-person meet since the pandemic struck and gains in importance with the Russian president getting a chance to show that his country has not been fully isolated despite western sanctions. With an effort to mend a previously tempestuous relationship, both China and Russia hailed their strategic ties in defiance of the West.

With Putin looking to create an “alternative power bloc to the west”, it will be interesting to see how Prime Minister Modi positions India in the current scenario while keeping in mind the growing intimacy between China and Russia.

After the Samarkand summit, where Iran was formally admitted into the SCO, India will take over the presidency of the influential grouping of the central Asian countries. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Beijing-headquartered economic and security bloc consisting China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan, along with Iran as the new entrant.

Here is all you need to know about Modi’s upcoming interaction with Putin and all on the PM’s agenda:

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was welcomed at the Samarkand airport by his Uzbek counterpart Abdulla Aripov, ministers, governor of Samarkand region and senior officials. Before he left for the SCO Summit, the prime minister tweeted that he was looking forward to the exchange of views on a “wide range of regional and global issues” as well as on “expansion and further deepening of multifaceted and mutually beneficial cooperation within the grouping”.
2. According to an earlier announcement by the Kremlin, Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of the SCO Summit and are likely to discuss issues of strategic stability, situation in the Asia Pacific region and bilateral cooperation within the UN and G20. The two leaders had previously talked over the phone on February 24 after Russia attacked Ukraine. Modi is also known to have made a bid to persuade the Russian premier to choose the path of peace and dialogue to settle the conflict, even as India chose not to take sides on a global platform.
3. According to Russian news agency TASS, Russia’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov had said, “A conversation on the international agenda with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi will also take place, the sides will discuss issues of strategic stability, the situation in the Asia Pacific Region, and, of course, cooperation within major multilateral formats, such as the UN, the G20 and the SCO,” adding, “this is particularly important, because India will preside in the UN Security Council in December, and in 2023, India will lead the SCO and chair the G20.”
4. According to the report, the trade turnover between Russia and India is growing – in the first six months of 2022, the figure reached $11.5 billion, adding about 120 per cent year-on-year. “In the first half of 2022, the trade turnover reached an impressive level of $11.5 billion, adding almost 120% compared to the same period last year,” it stated.
5. This is the first in-person SCO summit since 2019 and is being watched closely for the possibility of Modi’s bilateral meetings with Xi, Putin, and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. While there was no official word if the PM will have a meeting with Xi or Sharif, it will be after a long time that these leaders will be at the same venue. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper had earlier reported that Sharif has no plans to meet his Indian counterpart in Samarkand, but did not rule out a brief courtesy meeting.
6. China had also declined to confirm Xi’s meeting with Modi. This will be the first time the two leaders will come face to face after their meeting at Brasilia on the sidelines of the BRICS in 2019. Since then, relations between the two countries soured over the incursion of Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh in May 2020, leading to a prolonged military standoff. Last week, however, China and India announced the disengagement of their troops from the Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hot springs area in a “coordinated and planned way”. The disengagement was officially announced to be completed by September 12.
7. Modi is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev among other leaders. “Under the Uzbek chairship, a number of decisions for mutual cooperation are likely to be adopted in areas of trade, economy, culture and tourism,” the PM said in his pre-departure statement, adding that he was also looking forward to meeting President Mirziyoyev. “I fondly recall his visit to India in 2018. He also graced the Vibrant Gujarat Summit as Guest of Honour in 2019. In addition, I will hold bilateral meetings with some of the other leaders attending the summit,” he said.
8. According to reports in Iranian media, Modi will also hold a separate bilateral meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The SCO summit will have two sessions – one restricted session only meant for the SCO member states and then an extended session for the participation of observers and special invitees of the chair country.
9. On the first day, India said there was a “deeply held” understanding in the grouping about the nature of menace and the source of the problem, in an oblique reference to Pakistan. At a media briefing, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said the SCO had been focused on practical cooperation to deal with terrorism. His response came when asked how SCO envisaged to carry forward its counter-terror cooperation when Pakistan actively harboured anti-India terror groups and China blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to designate terrorists. “You know, there are multiple ways to look at how different countries assess and look at the challenge of terrorism in the region. You mentioned about Pakistan and it’s linked with the challenge of terrorism in the region,” he added.
10. Talking about the PM’s schedule earlier, Kwatra had said the Modi’s participation was a reflection of the importance that India attached to the SCO and its goals. India expected that the discussions at the summit will cover topical regional and international issues, reforms and expansion of the SCO, the regional security situation and cooperation perspective, he added. Kwatra further said strengthening connectivity as well as boosting trade and tourism in the region was also part of the agenda. The duration of Modi’s visit to Samarkand will be around 24 hours, he added. 
    (With PTI inputs)

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