Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday confirmed their participation in the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation(SCO)summit in the virtual format on July four hosted by India.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the high-profile event.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

The theme of the summit is ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’. The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. These themes have been highlighted during India’s chairmanship of the SCO. In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi Jingping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.  He is expected to attend this year’s summit also.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week’s virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, an official announcement in Beijing said.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release. This was the first official announcement about Xi’s participation in the SCO summit hosted by India.

In a similar statement, Islamabad on Friday said Prime Minister Sharif will participate in a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.  Incidentally, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had attended in person the SCO Foreign Ministers’ conclave in Goa in early May.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Sharif’s participation in the summit illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, which is an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhanced engagement with the region.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023,” it said.

“The invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO,” the statement said. At the summit, the leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the future direction of cooperation among SCO Member States. This year, the SCO CHS will also welcome Iran as a new member of the organisation, it said.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in May that India will host the annual summit of the SCO in a virtual format on July 4.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India’s Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed “New Delhi Hall” at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCO’s six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a “mini-India” showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

“To make you visualise the depth of India’s artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India”, he said.