 "External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar welcomes Foreign Minister of China Qin Gang at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, in Goa last year. S Jaishankar will be travelling to Pakistan today to attend the SCO summit. File image/PTI")
Today, India’s external affairs minister will visit Pakistan after a decade. The visit by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Islamabad comes as Pakistan is hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on October 15 and 16.
According to a statement from the Pakistan Foreign Office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will chair the upcoming meeting, which will also feature China’s Premier Li Qiang, Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin, Belarus’ Roman Golovchenko, Kazakhstan PM Olzhas Bektenov, Iran’s first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber among others.
Before his departure from India for the visit, India’s Ministry of External Affairs has excluded any possibility of a bilateral meet between the India and Pakistan leaders.
And in preparation for the meeting, Pakistan has turned Islamabad into a fortress — authorities have banned all kinds of political gatherings and protests, over 9,000 police personnel, military troops, and intelligence units have been deployed across the capital.
Ahead of this important meet, here’s an understanding of what is the SCO and why it matters to India.
What is the SCO?
The SCO, originally known as the ‘Shanghai Five’, was formed in 1996, consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, these nations came together to work on regional security, reduction of border troops and terrorism.
In 2001, the ‘Shanghai Five’ inducted Uzbekistan into its fold and named it the SCO, outlining its principles in a charter that promoted what was called the “Shanghai spirit” of cooperation.
In 2017, India and Pakistan joined the grouping and today, the bloc has 10 full members, including Iran and Belarus . Afghanistan and Mongolia hold Observer Status.
The SCO’s main goals are strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research and technology, and culture. Its focus areas include education, energy, transport, tourism and environmental protection.
It also calls for joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.
The SCO has two permanent headquarters, the secretariat in Beijing and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital.
Is the SCO significant?
Even though the SCO is a relatively new group on the block — Nato, a Western grouping, has been around since 1949 — its regional influence is growing slowly and steadily.
Today, the SCO countries represent a population of three billion people and accounts for three-fifths of the Eurasian continent. The member countries’ GDP also accounts for a quarter of the world’s, underlining the importance of the bloc.
The SCO is also seen by many as a counter to the West’s Nato; Beijing and Moscow has increasingly tried to position the growing bloc as a platform to promote an alternative to the US-led order.
A report by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) notes, For China, groups like the SCO and Brics are a vehicle to further Xi Jinping’s vision of an international order guided by Chinese principles.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has pushed SCO to be “one of the key pillars of a fair, multipolar world order.” The USIP also notes that Putin is using the SCO to show the West that despite being charged as a war criminal, he is still able to travel and meet with foreign leaders and that Western efforts to isolate Russia diplomatically are failing.
Interestingly, several SCO member states — notably Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan —possess some of the world’s largest reserves of oil and natural gas, driving interest in expanded energy cooperation among members.
Why does the SCO matter to India?
India became a full member of the SCO in June 2017 and it was announced by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
India’s entry into this primarily Eurasian body, according to experts, enhances India’s standing on a global stage. It also gives India greater access to regional markets and its politico-strategic dynamics. For instance, India is one of the biggest energy-consuming countries and with Central Asia being abundantly blessed with natural resources, this could help the country. It also allows for New Delhi to maintain better communication with main players in the region on security matters.
How though? That’s because of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), which assists members in preparing counter-terrorism exercises and sharing of key intelligence information on terrorist movements as well as drug trafficking. Some note that India may have pushed to join the grouping to use it as an effective platform to push Pakistan to act on terrorism emanating from its soil.
Being a member of the SCO, also allows India to effectively counter China’s ambitious projects of One Belt, One Road and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In fact, India has signed a deal for the International North- South Transportation Corridor which will allow for ship, rail and road routes between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.
The SCO also allows for India to position itself as a proponent of a new world order, which is neither west-centric nor China-centric.
But many experts note that the cons of joining the SCO far outweigh the pros for India. The fraught ties with Pakistan and China make it difficult for SCO to function effectively.
Moreover, Richard Weitz, senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute, notes that the SCO and its main organisational bodies are “chronically underfunded and have limited powers to take decisions independently of their member governments.”
Also, member states’ penchant for pursuing “micro-agendas” also undermines group cohesion and sows mistrust, Matthew Crosston, professor and director of the International Security and Intelligence Studies Program at Bellevue University, told the Council on Foreign Relations.
What’s on the agenda for the SCO meet in Islambad?
In Islamabad, the SCO meet will “focus on enhancing regional cooperation, trade, and financial integrity among member states. It will adopt important organisational decisions to further enhance cooperation and approve the budget of the grouping.
Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif is also expected to hold multiple bilaterals, barring India, on the sidelines of the meet.
As per the Pakistan government, it will also significantly boost the country’s image and future prospects. Echoing similar comments, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said the summit would prove to be a “game-changer” for Pakistan.
With inputs from agencies