Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a statement at the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, marking the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The address outlined India's three-pillar vision for the SCO: Security, Connectivity, and Opportunity, emphasizing the need to translate cooperation into tangible outcomes.
On security, the Prime Minister identified terrorism as a serious challenge to humanity and called for moving beyond an action-reaction approach. He emphasized the need to dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorist financing, recruitment, radicalization, and safe havens, while rejecting double standards. The statement specifically targeted countries that use terrorism as an instrument of policy, warning that terrorism can never be a strategic asset. The address also linked regional security to peace and stability in Afghanistan, noting India's ongoing contributions to development and humanitarian assistance in the country.
The Prime Minister highlighted the broader security implications of regional conflicts, noting that the West Asia crisis demonstrates how conflicts affect global energy security, maritime trade, and supply chains, with Global South countries bearing the greatest brunt. He consistently advocated for resolving tensions through dialogue and diplomacy rather than battlefield confrontations. On drug trafficking, he identified it as a serious threat to the younger generation and regional security, supporting the establishment of SCO Centers to address security threats, organized crime, information security, and narcotics.
On connectivity, India supports efforts that connect markets, facilitate trade, and open new development avenues, but emphasized that such efforts must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries in line with the SCO Charter. The Prime Minister called for broadening connectivity beyond physical infrastructure like roads, railways, and air corridors to include simplified customs processes, digital documentation, and more efficient logistics networks.
On opportunity, the address emphasized that SCO benefits should reach people directly, with people-to-people ties at the heart of cooperation. Success should be measured by new opportunities for youth, new markets for entrepreneurs, technological benefits for farmers, and improved citizen lives. The Prime Minister noted Kyrgyzstan's emphasis on youth engagement and highlighted India's initiatives including the SCO Start-up Forum, Young Authors' Conclave, Young Scientists' Forum, and the proposed SCO Civilizational Dialogue Forum whose first session will be held in India this year.
The statement concluded by referencing Kyrgyz literary figure Chingiz Aitmatov's message about focusing on unifying rather than divisive elements, emphasizing that SCO's diversity is its identity and shared purpose is its strength. The Prime Minister called for moving from shared geography to shared opportunities, from vision to outcomes, and from government-driven cooperation to people-driven partnership.