Amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh heads to Uzbekistan on Tuesday (August 23, 2022) to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence meeting. The meeting comes ahead of the SCO Summit level meeting from September 15 – 17, 2022.
The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on twitter that in Uzbekistan he will be having a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Lt General Nizamovich. Besides the SCO meeting he will also interact with the Indian community.
The SCO Defence meeting assumes importance as the defence ministers of Pakistan, Russia and China and all other member countries will be present. This is an annual meeting of the SCO member states who will discuss defence cooperation among all countries as well as focus on fight against terrorism, radicalisation and the humanitarian crisis in war torn Afghanistan.
The member countries include Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, India, Russia, China and Pakistan and there are observer countries – Iran, Belarus, Mongolia and Afghanistan. And countries including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Turkey, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka have received dialogue partner status.
India and China
After several rounds of talks border issues continue and the armies are locked in stand-off for more than two years now. Issues related to PP 15, friction points Depsang and Demchok remain unresolved.
India-Russia
India has made its stand clear on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine as it has urged the two sides to resolve the issues through dialogue and called for immediate cessation of hostilities. India is the top importer of the Russian military platforms including the S-400 air defence system.
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RATS and SCO Meeting in New Delhi
Later this year in October, New Delhi is getting ready to host the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) council meet. This will be held here in the country on October 14. Officials of the member countries including Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are expected to be present. However, what is not clear is the presence of Pakistan.
Why India?
India is the Chair of the Council of RATS of the SCO and has so far chaired 24 rounds of meetings of various groups of the RATS structure and has raised the issue of terror financing.
RATS is a permanent organ of the grouping and it promotes cooperation of member states against the evils of extreminism, separatism, and terrorism and is headquartered in Tashkent.
SCO Summit
Next month, the SCO summit will take place in Uzbekistan as it holds the presidency of SCO where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the meeting. In 2023, India will be taking over the presidency of SCO and all major events related to the grouping will take place in the country.
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