Vice President Venkaiah Naidu is expected to lead the country at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting that India is hosting on November 30 with a focus on forging economic and trade partnerships in the larger Eurasian region, including Russia and Central Asia.
This is the first time India is hosting the summit since it became a member of the group in 2017. The meeting will be held through video link because of the pandemic.
According to officials, India has offered to host a new SCO Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation, the formation of a sub-group on cooperation in traditional medicine for attainment, and hosting the first-ever SCO Conclave for Young Scientists.
At a recent meeting, Vikas Swarup, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, had said, “India’s growing economic potential and vast experience and expertise in building institutional capabilities, can add greater value to SCO’s ongoing projects and share best practices in newer areas to forge a common vision for the region. India’s chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government during 2020 culminating in the Summit in India on 30 November 2020, allows us to contribute in a substantive way to the trade and economic agenda of SCO which will be the main mandate of the summit in November.”