India to host CHG meeting of SCO on 29-30 November in New Delhi

India is scheduled to host the meeting of Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO on 29-30 November 2020 in New Delhi. This will be the first Prime Minister level meeting to be hosted by India since its elevation as a full-member of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO.

 

In the run-up to the CHG Meeting, India has taken lot of initiatives in a wide range of areas. India hosted a Preparatory Seminar on Start-up Forum on 11 August and the first-ever meeting of Consortium of Economic Think-Tanks on 21-22 August. Both the events were attended by all the SCO Member States through Video Conferencing.

 

India has also planned for many events and meetings to be held before the CHG in November, which include Sub-group on Cooperation in Traditional Medicine, Preparatory Seminar on Traditional Medicine, Two meetings of Senior Officials Commission on External Economy and Trade, first-ever SCO Start-up Forum, Special Working Group on Innovation and Startups, first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave, Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage, etc.

 

India will also be hosting two Ministerial-level meetings of SCO Member States. The Justice Ministers and the Trade Ministers



are scheduled to meet before the Heads of Govt meet. Trade Ministers are expected to meet in last week of October where India will launch SCO startup forum. All the member states have supported India’s initiatives in the run up to the Heads of Government meet in New Delhi.

 

This affords India an opportunity to contribute in a substantive way to the trade and economic agenda of the SCO which has emerged as a key regional organization in the Eurasian space in the past two decades of its existence. India attaches great importance to SCO as it provides an excellent platform for it to connect with its extended neighbourhood.

 

This year’s SCO Summit or SCO Heads of State Council meeting is scheduled for November and will be held as a video conference. SCO Foreign ministers meet which concluded in Moscow yesterday discussed about preparations for the upcoming SCO Summit. SCO Heads of State council and Heads of Government Council are two independent mechanisms which focus on political & security related matters and trade and economy related matters respectively. India joined the SCO as an observer in 2005 and became a full member alongwith Pakistan in 2017.