Picture : Twitter / ANI
India is committed to increasing its connectivity with Central Asia. We believe that landlocked Central Asian countries can benefit immensely by connecting with India’s vast market, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his virtual addresses to the SCO summit on Friday.
Any connectivity initiative cannot be one-way. To ensure mutual trust, connectivity projects should be consultative, transparent and participatory. There should be respect for the territorial integrity of all countries, Modi told the SCO summit.
This year we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of SCO. I welcome Iran as a new member country of the SCO. I also welcome the three new dialogue partners — Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, Modi said in his opening remarks.
20th anniversary is the right time to think about the future of SCO. The biggest challenges in this area are related to peace, security and trust deficit, and the root cause of these problems is increasing radicalisation. Recent developments in Afghanistan have made this challenge clear, Modi said.
PM Modi further elaborated, India is committed to increasing its connectivity with Central Asia. We believe that landlocked Central Asian countries can benefit immensely by connecting with India’s vast market.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar earlier in the day met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussed the border row with him on the sidelines of the summit. While PM Modi joined the meeting via video link, Jaishankar is in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe.
