PM Modi participates in 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the 26th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, on August 31 and September 1.

• This year marks SCO’s 25th anniversary. 

• The summit was held under the chairmanship of Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov.

• It focused on issues of multilateral cooperation.

• The leaders took stock of the progress and exchanged views on furthering SCO’s role for peace, security, stability and prosperity in the region.

• During the discussions, the leaders put forward a number of initiatives and proposals for the further development of cooperation within the SCO.

• Following the meeting, 28 documents were approved, including the Bishkek Declaration.

Key outcomes of the Summit:

i) An amendment to the SCO Charter to include English as an official and working language of the grouping.

ii) Approval of regulations for a ‘Universal Centre for Countering Challenges and Threats to the Security of SCO Member States’. The centre is expected to strengthen cooperation among SCO members in tackling terrorism, extremism, organised crime and other transnational threats, and enable better coordination and information sharing.

iii) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in combating climate change, which provides a platform for cooperation on climate adaptation and mitigation, climate-resilient development and technology.

iv) Decision on approval of the regulations for the executive committee of the SCO Anti-Narcotics Centre, which would facilitate closer coordination among member states against cross-border narcotics trafficking and narco-terrorism.

v) Programme of cooperation among SCO Member States in combating drug addiction until 2030.

vi) Cooperation in energy conservation and energy efficiency, and on the development of energy systems. 

vii) MoU between authorised agencies of SCO member states on cooperation in the field of information.

viii) MoU on cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)