SCO Summit: Build resilient, post-pandemic supply chains, says PM Modi
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member-states to build resilient supply chains in the wake of the Covid pandemic, and stressed that greater connectivity among nations in Central Asia and other members, such as India, is needed to achieve this objective.
Addressing the 22nd SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, he said the ongoing pandemic and the Ukraine crisis caused many disruptions in global supply chains, because of which several countries are facing unprecedented energy and food crises.
The SCO should strive to develop reliable, resilient, and diversified supply chains in its region, for which better connectivity will be required. He also urged the SCO nations to give full transit rights to each other, in an apparent reference to Pakistan which periodically denies India the right to fly through its airspace.
PM Modi also dwelt on India’s burgeoning start-up ecosystem. “We are supporting innovation in every sector. Today, India has over 70,000 start-ups, including over 100 unicorns. This experience of ours can be of use to many other SCO members as well. For this purpose, we are ready to share our experience with SCO member countries, by establishing a new special working group on start-ups and innovation,” he said.
India is emerging as a global manufacturing hub. “India’s young and talented workforce makes us naturally competitive. Its economy is expected to grow at 7.5 percent this year, which will be the highest among the world’s major economies”, he said. “There is also a lot of focus on the proper use of technology in our people-centric development model.”
He also touched upon the issue of food security, which is now on the agenda of almost every SCO leader at the Summit because of the strained supply of wheat in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war. “The world today faces another major challenge-–ensuring the food security of our citizens. One possible solution to this problem is to promote the cultivation and consumption of millets,” Modi said.
He argued that millets are a ‘superfood’ and have been grown for thousands of years, not only in SCO countries but in many other parts of the world. He said they represented a traditional, nutritious, and low-cost alternative to the food crisis. The year 2023 will be celebrated as the UN International Year of Millets. Modi suggested the SCO should consider organizing a ‘Millet Food Festival’.
PM Modi said India is among the most affordable destinations for medical and wellness tourism in the world. The WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine was inaugurated in Gujarat in April 2022. “This will be the WHO’s first and only Global Centre for Traditional Medicines. We should increase cooperation on traditional medicine among SCO countries. For this, India will take initiatives on a new SCO working group on traditional medicine,” he said.
The SCO Council of Heads of Governments deals with trade, economy, and the cultural agenda of the grouping. During India’s chairmanship of the council in 2020, the Modi government shaped the first forums on start-ups, MSMEs, and young scientists.
PM Modi attended two leaders’ sessions on Friday.
The first comprised the SCO members—India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—which discussed issues of mutual interest such as security and economic cooperation in the region. The other session saw extended participation of the six SCO dialogue partners.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said PM Modi will hold a series of bilateral meetings with other SCO leaders on Friday before returning to New Delhi the same night.
The 23rd SCO Summit will be held in India in 2023 as New Delhi has assumed the rotational presidency of the organization for a year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated India on its assumption of the SCO presidency and offered his country’s support to it. “We will support India for its presidency next year,” Jinping said, the media reported.
Friday’s Summit was the fifth that India participated in as a full-fledged SCO member. This Summit is expected to finalize the ‘Samarkand Declaration’ and other documents. The joint declaration of SCO nations would come later in the evening, MEA officials said.
