Shehbaz, Modi to attend SCO summit in Samarkand

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will be among the leaders arriving in Samarkand to attend the 22nd summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The premier will be visiting Uzbekistan from September 15 (Thursday) to 16 (Friday) at the invitation of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who will be chairing the meeting. Islamabad and New Delhi have made it clear that the two leaders could see each from their chairs sitting across but they will have no structured interaction during their 48-hour stay under one roof.

The summit is being viewed in the world capitals with focus on interaction and meetings between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Both the leaders will have several meetings with other leaders separately. Shehbaz will meet Xi, while Modi will be interacting with Putin on the sidelines.

Well-placed diplomatic sources told The News on Wednesday that President Xi, who has landed in Kazakhstan a day before reaching Samarkand, is unveiling Belt-and-Road (B&R), his signature trade-and-infrastructure plan.

The CPEC is a flagship project of Xi’s foreign-policy initiative. It has become a focal point of the US and its allies in the Group of Seven, which in June announced plans to raise $600 billion in financing so lower-income countries have an alternative to the Chinese cash.

It is understood that touching down in the Kazakh capital before Samarkand will reinforce Xi’s vision of a world where China can expand its interests without fearing the threat of economic or military pressure from the US.

The Chinese leader will expound on that agenda at a twice-a-decade party congress next month, during which he’s expected to secure a third term as the leader of the world’s second-biggest economy. He will essentially discuss prospects regarding CPEC with Shehbaz.

A Chinese delegation is already in Islamabad to discuss various aspects of the project. The sources reminded that Xi could meet Modi but military tension between the two countries would not help in easing out a political movement forward.

Modi’s meeting with Putin would be an important development from the Indian perspective since the former is the biggest buyer of Russian weapon systems, oil and some other products.

The sources reminded that India is keen to open trade with Pakistan, which could be in the interest of the two countries but currently no move forward would be possible due to the obtaining political situation in Pakistan.

Pakistan had to host SAARC summit way back in 2016 but India scuttled it. The platform could be used for “bilateral” activities in the garb of the organisation including trade. Modi could offer Shehbaz when the two will have “pull aside” meeting during ‘retreat’ of the leaders, revival of the SAARC.

In quid pro quo, Modi would be keen to seek an undertaking for Pakistan’s participation in SCO next summit to be hosted by New Delhi next year, the sources said. Several other issues will figure prominently in the Samarkand summit but Ukraine invasion by Russia this February will be an important one.

In this backdrop, the one-on-one meeting between Xi and Putin will have significance. Climate change will come up for discussion in the summit. The sources reminded that not much would be of interest to Pakistan in the formal get togethers but some substantial could come up from the “retreat”.

Interestingly, Islamabad and New Delhi have been without each other’s envoys since Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India after it merged the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in its union way back in August 2019. The resumption of full-scale diplomatic relations is not on the cards, the sources added.