India to host SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on April 28

India, as the Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), will be hosting the SCO Defense Ministers' Meeting in New Delhi on April 28, 2023.

While the Defence Ministers of all the other member states, including China and Russia, are expected to attend the meeting in person, media reports have said that the Pakistani Defence Minister will join the event virtually.

At the meeting, the Defence Ministers will discuss effective multilateralism, SCO counterterrorism initiatives, and regional peace and security, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday (April 25, 2023). On the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meet, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, will hold bilateral meetings with the Defence Ministers of participating countries.

The SCO, established in 2001, is an intergovernmental organization comprising Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and India. India became a member in 2007, alongside Pakistan. Apart from the member states, two observer countries Belarus and Iran will also be participating in the SCO Defence Ministers Meeting.

Under India's chairmanship of the SCO in 2023, the theme is 'SECURE-SCO.'

India attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the region. The ongoing engagement with SCO has helped India promote its relations with the countries in the region with which India has shared civilizational linkages, and is considered India’s extended neighbourhood, the Ministry of Defence said.

The SCO adheres to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, non-interference in internal affairs, equality of all member states, mutual understanding, and respect for the opinions of each member.