END TERROR, WAR AND POVERTY: PRIME MINISTER MODI'S CALL TO SCO

In both the SCO and the G20, Prime Minister Modi has made certain that India would play with a straight bat, and be fair and respectful of the rights of all.

- MADHAV NALAPAT

When opinions were informally sought about whether the 2023 SCO Summit chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be held in physical or virtual format, the loudest voice in favour of the latter came from Beijing. Soundings in that capital indicate that the Chinese side had been working behind the scenes to persuade members to opt for the virtual format, as this was seen as being less attention-grabbing by world media than physical attendance by the leaders at the summit meeting.

New Delhi has shown itself capable of hosting summit-level meetings with ease and precision, and the switch to a virtual format did nothing to reduce the significance of the 2023 SCO Summit. Attention was centred on Russian President Vladimir Putin as to whether the leader who was now under siege from NATO would please the Chinese side by offering only a perfunctory "Thank You" to the Summit host, PM Modi. Instead, in the presence of Xi Jinping, who seemed less than comfortable at the warmth of Putin’s remarks, the Russian President was straightforward and indeed effusive in expressing his appreciation for the way in which 2023 SCO Chairperson Modi had ensured that the organisation was bequeathed a novel and comprehensive agenda focused not just on members of the SCO but very substantially the Global South as well, a zone whose interests have been championed from the start of his tenure by SCO Chairperson Modi.