New Delhi, May 30, 2023, IANS

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS): Under India's first-ever chairmanship of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the 22nd summit of the SCO Council of heads of state will be held in the virtual format on July 4, and will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India has assumed the rotating chairmanship of SCO at the Samarkand Summit on September 16, 2022.

According to a statement issued by the ministry of external affairs, all the SCO member states namely China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have been invited to attend the summit.

In addition, Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States.

As per SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair.

Heads of the two SCO bodies - the Secretariat and the SCO RATS - will also be present.

Further, heads of six international and regional organisations have also been invited, namely the UN, the ASEAN, the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, and the CICA.

The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment.

These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of SCO, official sources said.

India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its chairmanship - startups and innovation, traditional medicine, digital inclusion, youth empowerment and shared Buddhist heritage.

In addition to this, India has worked towards fostering greater people to people ties that celebrate the historical and civilisational bonds between the nations, the statement said.

These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23.

India's Chairmanship of SCO has been a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between member states.

India has hosted a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 ministerial-level meetings and remains committed to play a positive and constructive role in the organisation and looks forward to a successful SCO summit as the culmination of its chairmanship, it said further.