New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a visit to Tianjin, China, to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Tanmay Lal said.

The Prime Minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings during the Summit's sidelines, the official said

Addressing a special press briefing ahead of PM Modi's visits to Japan and China, the MEA official said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Tianjin, China, for the 25th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Council, the SCO, on August 31 and September 1, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping of China."

Sharing the program elements for the SCO Summit in Tianjin, Tanmay Lal said that it includes a welcome banquet dinner in the evening of August 31, with the main summit to be held on September 1.

"And in addition to this, Prime Minister is expected to hold some bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the SCO Summit", Lal told media.

Highlighting the primary goals of the SCO namely countering three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism, Lal underlined that there is a broader range of sectors of cooperation among the SCO members.

He shared how PM Modi has consistently participated in various previous SCO summits- 2018 in Chengdao, 2019 in Bishkek, 2020 in Moscow in virtual format, 2021 in Dushanbe in virtual format, 2022 in Tashkent, 2023 in New Delhi virtual format.

He also brought to attention the range of issues which are a priority for India and had been reflected in the theme of the 23rd SCO summit, which was chaired by Prime Minister Modi, was towards a 'SECURE' SCO, where, "Secure stands for security, economy and trade, connectivity, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and environment".

Other notable Indian achievements during the presidency included the adoption of a joint statement on cooperation, countering radicalization leading to separatism, extremism and terrorism.

Other areas included startups and innovation, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, digital inclusion, and shared Buddhist heritage.

He reiterated how, during the 2023 presidency of India, Varanasi was designated as the first-ever cultural and tourism capital of the SCO during the year 2022-2023.

"All these initiatives and events have been well received by SCO member states", Lal said.

He mentioned the regional anti-terrorist structure- RATS, and said, "Security cooperation remains one of the important areas of focus for India. and India had chaired the SCO RATS Council during 2021-2022. Earlier in February, the Secretary General of SCO RATS, Nurlan Yermekbayev , had visited India and held useful discussions."

The MEA official highlighted how in recent months, India has participated at several ministerial level, senior level, ongoing processes of SCO, which included meetings where the Indian delegation was led by the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in their relevant SCO formats.

The SCO comprises 10 members. In addition to India, they include Belarus, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. There are a number of dialogue partners and observers also. India has been a member of the SCO since 2017, while earlier it was an observer since 2005. During the period of its membership, India has held the chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020 and of the SCO Council of Heads of State during 2022-2023.

India engages actively with various institutional processes and mechanisms of the SCO and participates in the ministerial meetings and other dialogue formats.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was on an official visit to India from August 18-19, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and handed over a message and an invitation from President Xi Jinping for the SCO Summit in Tianjin, China.

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PM Modi had expressed support for China's Presidency of the SCO Summit and said that he looked forward to meeting President Xi in Tianjin. PM underlined that stable, predictable, and constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional and global peace and prosperity, an official statement issued by PMO read.