India, which is chairing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2023, invited the foreign ministers of the member countries of the Organization to a meeting scheduled for May 4-5 in Goa.

 Having assumed the chairmanship of the group in September last year, India plans to host several key ministerial-level meetings and the SCO summit in 2023.

 In the run-up to the summit, India will also host meetings of defense ministers from nine SCO member states, as well as ministers of national security, the interior and the environment.  Ministerial meetings are expected to start from March.

 According to Financial Express sources, the agenda for the upcoming meetings is still being finalized.  However, as a rule, at such meetings the issues of combating terrorism, the fight against drugs, energy and food security, and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan are necessarily discussed.

 According to the publication, the projects of the International North-South Transit Corridor (INSTC) and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline will also be on the agenda of the upcoming SCO meetings.

 The SCO, which has been in existence for two decades, includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan and four countries of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  At the last summit in Samarkand in September 2022, Iran became a new member of the SCO.  At the same time, the head of Turkmenistan participated as an honored guest of the summit.

 The SCO grouping covers more than 60% of the area of ​​the Eurasian continent, 40% of the world's population and 30% of world GDP.  More and more countries, including those from the Arab world, are showing their desire to become a member of the Organization.  The Indian presidency will give impetus to the trade corridor through the Chabahar port and projects such as the North-South transit corridor and the TAPI gas pipeline.