India needs to improve connectivity
On the occasion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)) summit at Samarkand, on September 16, an international seminar was hosted by the CICG Center for Europe and Asia (China Pictorial Publications) and the Administrative Committee of the China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA), in Beijing. It was a seminar of Chinese and foreign experts and experts and scholars from SCO member states such as China, Uzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, and Pakistan, online and in person.
Experts at the meeting focused on the Samarkand Summit, interpreting the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's and President Xi Jinping's visit to Central Asia and attending the summit, focusing on how the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should deal with the complex and ever-changing international situation, and safeguard the region and the world In-depth discussion of peace and security, etc.
Here is my speech at the seminar:
Namaste and good morning to all.
The SCO summit at Samarkand aligns clearly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decolonization project.
India, as a civilization, has always stood for Samvadham, or dialogue. It follows the philosophy of Advaita, which is non-dualism. All of us are creatures who have emanated from the same universe. We are the same.
The moral mandate from the masses for Modi’s decolonization project is obvious from their support of his deconstruction of Eurocentrism. His use of the Indian knowledge tradition has had an indelible impact on diplomatic discourses.
Modi’s determination to remove the symbols and structures of oppression has a unique similarity with the outlook of Frantz Fanon, the anti-colonial thinker. Fanon wrote that “imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land, and our minds as well”.
Hence, India is following an independent diplomatic policy, without being a slave of the United States and India will be more united with other SCO members including China and Russia, and play a more positive role to promote the multi-polarization of the world together.
India, last week, stayed out of the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), after the IPEF ministerial meeting held in Los Angeles on September 8-9. India's Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal cited concerns over possible discrimination against developing economies.
The presence of India and China, the world’s most populous countries, makes SCO the organization with the largest population coverage.
The SCO’s significance for India mainly lies in economics and geopolitics with the Eurasian states. It is a potential platform to advance India’s Central Asia policy. The SCO member states are India’s extended neighbourhood where India has both economic and security interests.
India will welcome the entry of Iran into the SCO.
India needs to improve connectivity with Central Asia through the Chabahar port in Southeastern Iran and it wishes to utilize the Ashgabat agreement of 2016 for a stronger presence in Eurasia along with a focus on the International North-South Corridor (INSTC). The Ashgabat agreement is a multimodal transport agreement between the governments of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, India, Pakistan, and Oman for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating the transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
Samarkand summit will see agreements on connectivity and high-efficiency transport corridors and a roadmap for local currency settlement among member states. Besides, the situation in Afghanistan is on the table as well.
A major thorn in India’s engagement with Eurasia remains the denial of direct land connectivity to Afghanistan and beyond by Pakistan. The lack of connectivity has dampened the development of energy ties between the hydrocarbon-rich region and India.
The SCO member States believe that one of the most important factors in preserving and strengthening security and stability in the SCO region is the early settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.
SCO, like BRICS, is a vehicle for India and China to co-exist peacefully for the current era to be viewed as the Asian century. Towards that goal, the Samarkand summit is a new milestone.
India will assume the rotational presidency of the SCO at the end of the Samarkand summit. Delhi will hold the presidency of the grouping for a year until September 2023. So, next year, India will host the SCO summit.
Finally, the recurring theme in Indian scriptures is Shanti-peace or tranquillity. I wish peace and tranquillity for you all.
