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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on June 14 participated in the SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The summit was divided into two portions. The first portion was the restricted format which was meant for the members and then after that was the expanded format where the observers also joined in. India participated as a full-fledged member of the SCO.
Prime Minister, very graciously thanked the Kyrgyz President for hosting the summit and for the excellent arrangements. He also thanked President Putin; congratulated him for the next summit which will be hosted by Russia, so he expressed his best wishes for the next summit also.
The essential discussions revolved around terrorism, Afghanistan, the economic issues especially the opportunities that there are for economic cooperation. As far as terrorism is concerned there need felt for close cooperation among the member countries including using the platform of RATS – Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure based in Tashkent.
On the Afghanistan issue, Prime Minister reiterated well known Indian position that any process in Afghanistan should be Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled and as a friend of Afghanistan India reiterated its commitment to working for the peace and stability of that country.
Economic issues were covered also in the discussions and some issues which really came up apart from the need for better connectivity including what Prime Minister mentioned about North South Corridor, Chabahar Port which has become operational and is available.
He also touched upon things like renewable energy, environment protection and solar energy. He said India has its strengths and is ready to work with the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization to improve their energy basket and work for common good in terms of climate change.
Prime Minister used the acronym HEALTH, he introduced the acronym HEALTH. The acronym stands for.
H for Health Care Cooperation
E for Economic Cooperation
A for Alternate Energy
L for Literature and Culture
T for Terrorism free Society
H for Humanitarian Cooperation.
So that essentially was the Prime Minister’s message. it summed up really India’s approach which is very constructive, and creates a very positive agenda and positive feel about the entire SCO process.
The cultural element also gets very strongly reiterated and we need to work closely especially considering that there are so many commonalities between India and most of the countries of Central Asia. There were also series of documents and agreements which were signed on that day.
Some of the important outcome documents that came out of the summit were the document of the Anti-Narcotic Strategy and the program of action. Other documents were assigned were on healthcare, on environment and on sports cooperation.
Other than that there were the general administrative agreements. In total 14 decisions were signed by the Council of the Heads of States.
On the sidelines of the SCO Summit, PM Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with world leaders.
List of documents exchanged during the visit of Prime Minister to Kyrgyz Republic
-S. No. Declaration/Agreements/MoUs
1. Joint Declaration between India and the Kyrgyz Republic on Strategic Partnership
2. Road map on Trade and Economic Cooperation between the Republic of India and the Kyrgyz Republic for the Five-Year period (2019-2024)
3. Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between India and the Kyrgyz Republic
4. Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation between National Security
Council Secretariat of India and Office of the Security Council of the Kyrgyz Republic
5. Protocol to Amend Article 26 of India-Kyrgyzstan Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)
6. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Health
7. MoU between DRDO and Kyrgyz India Mountain Biomedical Research Centre
8. Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between National Security
Guards of India and National Guards of the Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic
9. Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between National Defence Academy of India and Kyrgyz Military Institute of the Kyrgyz Republic
10. Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between High Altitude Warfare School (Gulmarg), Indian Armed Forces and Joint Mountain training Centre of the Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic
11. Memorandum of Cooperation between Export-Import Bank of India and the Investment Promotion and Protection Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic
12. MoU between India and the Kyrgyz Republic on cooperation on Information and Communication Technology
13. Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry of Consumer Affairs of India and Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic on cooperation in the field of Legal Metrology.
14. Memorandum of Understanding between Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) of India and National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS) of the Kyrgyz Republic
15. Memorandum of Understanding between Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Himachal Pradesh and Kyrgyz National Agrarian University (KNAU)