By Sanjay Kumar
A recent visit by the Secretary-General of the SCO to India highlights the latter’s interest in joining the SCO.
Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO), visited New Delhi on a two day visit from February 23 to 25. The visit failed to attract any meaningful media attention. Nonetheless, the visit is significant and highlights the importance of the SCO in India’s larger relations with Central Asia and South Asia.
The trip comes against the backdrop of a momentous change in Afghanistan that will see an almost complete withdrawal of foreign combat troops from the country as uncertainty about the future grows in the landlocked country. The visit also comes at a time when New Delhi is more keen than before to become a full member of the six-member group. India enjoys the status of an observer state at the SCO.
“We have also indicated our willingness to play a more active, more constructive, broader and larger role in the SCO as and when the SCO decides to expand its membership,” the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin said while announcing the arrival of Mezentsev in India.
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