SCO Summit Highlights

Context

SCO 2022 Summit recently concluded in Uzbekistan.

About

The Organization

The SCO, which is currently the largest regional bloc in the world, has eight full-time members - India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran is expected to become the latest member of the bloc this year.

Key-points made by PM Modi

PM Modi had separate bilateral meetings with Russian President Putin, Uzbek President Mirziyoyev and Iranian President Raisi.

Hurdles: PM Modi spoke about the pandemic and the Ukraine war.
Turning into global manufacturing hub: Stressing on the need of increased cooperation among nations, he said that India is working towards becoming a global manufacturing hub.
Ahead in traditional medicines: In April 2022, WHO inaugurated its Global Centre for Traditional Medicines in Gujarat. This was the first and only global center by WHO for traditional treatment. India will take an initiative for a new SCO working group on traditional medicines.
Among fastest growing economy: India's economy is expected to grow at the rate of 7.5 per cent this year.
India highlighted to Russia that 'it's not an era of war', “food, fertilizer, fuel security are among major concerns”.

The upcoming bundle of meetings

India will also assume the presidency at the end of the summit until September 2023 and will also host the summit next year.
Apart from this, India will also assume the presidency of the G20 (Group of Twenty) for a year starting 1 December 2022 and is expected to host over 200 meetings across the country during presidency tenure.