07/05/2023
New Delhi, July 5: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the virtual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday. He urged China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and central Asian countries to jointly fight terrorism and tackle global challenges including food, fuel, and fertiliser shortages. Modi added that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global food, and geopolitical crises have posed immense challenges for all the countries.
The SCO group was formed in 2001 by China and Russia, with former Soviet Central Asian states as members. India and Pakistan joined later, while Iran joined as the ninth member. The SCO meeting was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, as well as leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.-Agencies