PM Modi departs for SCO summit: A look at what's in store for India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi boarded the Air India One plane for Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) Summit. 

PM Modi is set to meet global leaders in the two-day summit where India is set to become a member of the China-led group.

One of the highlights of the meet will be Modi's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines during which he is expected to take up India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

However, the agenda for the two day meet (June 23-24) will be for PM Modi to sign a memorandum of obligation. Apart from this, there are 30 other documents for India to sign during the meet.

Sujata Mehta, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said, “We have been in discussion with the SCO about the documents themselves that have to be signed. They have to be gone through and reviewed. We basically commit to undertaking everything."

Apart from Jinping, Modi will also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin too.

Talking to media, Uzbekistan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anvar Nasirov said Uzbekistan, within the framework of its presidency at the SCO, has paid great attention to India's admission to the organisation.

He said, at a meeting in Ufa last year, heads of member states took the decision to include India as a full member. Nasirov said the process will be completed in the forthcoming meeting.

At present Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are permanent members of SCO.

India's inclusion in the group will expand the territory of the organisation and it will nearly account for 80% of the Eurasian continent and will have a population of 2.7 billion, more than one third of world's population.

While expansion may hinder the organisation's ability to act decisively, it will give SCO the opportunity to transform into a more comprehensive institution capable of converting and integrating a broad swath of Asia.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS)