Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- India chairs the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for the first time. The meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO Member States, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be held on 4 July 2023 in an online format.

All SCO member states, in particular, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan are invited to the summit.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Belarus and Mongolia are invited as observer states.

By tradition of the SCO, Turkmenistan is also invited as a guest of the chairman.

The heads of the permanent bodies of the SCO - the Secretariat and the Executive Committee of the RATS SCO will take part in the SCO summit. Also invited are the heads of six international and regional organizations, namely: the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA.

Topic of the summit: "SECURE SCO". The acronym SECURE was proposed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of India at the SCO Summit in 2018 and includes the following concepts: security, economy and trade, interconnectedness, unity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity，environment. These topics have become the main agenda of the Indian SCO Presidency.

During its presidency, India has given impetus to areas such as start-ups and innovation, traditional medicine, digital integration, youth direction, Buddhist heritage.

India’s presidency in the SCO is a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between member states. India has held a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 ministerial meetings.

India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the Organization and hopes that the SCO summit will be a successful culmination of the presidency.