However, the Indian Defense Minister, while presiding over a conference of Defense Ministers of SCO countries, said that India envisages a robust framework of regional cooperation that ‘takes into account the legitimate interests of all member states, their sovereignty and territorial integrity’. Respect each other.’ He said in the presence of Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu that India believes in maintaining peace and security based on the provisions of the United Nations Charter and therefore strives to enhance trust and cooperation among SCO members.
Stressing on the need to effectively tackle terrorism, Rajnath Singh said that any act of terrorism or its support in any form is a grave crime against humanity and peace and prosperity cannot coexist with this menace. He said, ‘If a country gives shelter to terrorists, it poses a threat not only to others but also to itself. Radicalization of youth is not only a cause of concern from the point of view of security, but it is also a major obstacle in the path of socio-economic progress of the society. “If we want to make the SCO a stronger and more credible international grouping, our top priority should be to deal with terrorism effectively,” Singh said.
The Defense Ministers of all the SCO member countries, except Pakistan, came to Delhi and took part in this conference. It was told that Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif attended the conference through virtual mode. Explaining his vision of ensuring collective prosperity, Singh urged SCO member states to make concerted efforts to shift from the mindset of ‘one’s loss to one’s gain’ to this region of limitless potential in today’s multilateral world. The benefit of one can turn into benefiting all others. He said, ‘India has followed the principle of ‘walking together and moving forward together’. Every era has a special thinking and the thinking of the current era is that there is a need to ‘work together for the greater good’.
India hosted the meeting as the Chair of the grouping. SCO is an influential economic and security grouping and has emerged as one of the largest intra-regional international organizations. The SCO was founded by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at a conference in Shanghai in 2001. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017. The meeting of Defense Ministers of SCO is being held in New Delhi on issues like regional peace, security and terrorism. The meeting held on Friday was attended by Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Colonel General Sherali Mizre of Tajikistan, Brigadier General Mohammad Raza Gharei Ashtiani of Iran and Colonel General Ruslan Zhakslyakov of Kazakhstan, representatives of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.