Forging consensus: On India and the SCO meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at the annual meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, marking 25 years of the Eurasian grouping, had a multi-pronged agenda. This was an occasion to meet his counterparts, for the first time since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began more than six months ago, which has inflicted economic costs on the whole grouping. The grouping includes Iran, as well as Pakistan that has emerged a mediator between Iran and the U.S., and the Bishkek declaration that condemned the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran and supported Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology under the NPT, was significant. Many of the SCO members are also in the BRICS grouping who Mr. Modi will host in Delhi on September 12-13 — this includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.