The two key things in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schedule for Sunday are:
- A welcome banquet dinner
- Bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In 2001, with Uzbekistan as the sixth member, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was established.
The SCO adheres to the ‘Shanghai Spirit’, which revolves around mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilisations and the pursuit of common development.
Over the years, the six-member group grew into a ten-member group, with India, Pakistan, Belarus and Iran joining the cohort.
The two key things in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schedule for Sunday are:
- A welcome banquet dinner
- Bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Visuals from the venue of the SCO Summit in Tianjin show preparations in full swing. Media personnel, officials from various countries are seen arriving at the summit.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025 has on its agenda issues such as addressing security challenges more effectively and enhancing financial mechanisms as the countries seek to strengthen unity, shore up multilateralism and better speak for the Global South nations, China Daily reported, citing observers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Miniter Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are among the attendees of the 2025 SCO Summit in Tianjin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine, just two days ahead of the Indian leader’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.
“Thank President Zelenskyy for his phone call today. We exchanged views on the ongoing conflict, its humanitarian aspect, and efforts to restore peace and stability. India extends full support to all efforts in this direction,” Modi said on X.
PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, after the SCO Summit.
Their meeting is likely to include strengthening India-Russia cooperation in trade and defence, the US pressure on India over Russian oil purchases, and Putin’s planned visit to India for an annual summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping around noon (9:30 AM IST) on Sunday, ahead of the main leaders’ summit on Monday.
The meeting comes with a 40-minute time slot. This will be PM Modi’s second meeting with Xi in ten months. The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the 2024 BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan.
The Modi-Xi meeting is especially significant amid the ongoing tensions between India and the US over President Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on New Delhi.
Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Tianjin on Sunday to attend the SCO Summit 2025, hosted by Xi Jinping.
The SCO Summit will take place from August 31 to September 1. However, the main leaders’ meeting is on Monday.
Putin had earlier said that the summit will “strengthen the SCO’s capacity to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and consolidate solidarity across the shared Eurasian space”.
“All this will help shape a fairer multipolar world order,” Putin said, Xinhua reported.
PM Modi landed in northern China’s Tianjin on Saturday evening and said that he is “looking forward to deliberations at the SCO Summit and meeting various world leaders”, he posted on X.
He was welcomed by the Indian diaspora in China, pictures of which he shared on his X handle.