India will again push for using English as one of the main working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which uses Mandarin and Russian as its official language, as per the sources.
The Indian initiative to introduce English as a working language has received tacit support. “This is something that has been emphasised a lot by other members too and there is a common understanding emerging,” the sources said.
Russian and Mandarin are presently used as official and working languages in SCO.
The group’s documents are also prepared in these two languages. Besides Russia and China, four Central Asian states are among SCO’s founder members; Russian is widely spoken and written.
India is currently hosting a two-day-long SCO CFM in Goa, with the most important work before the SCO Foreign Ministers will be to assess the status of decisions that will be approved at the SCO Summit in New Delhi July.
With a focus on regional, defence and political issues, India got the chairmanship of the grouping last year at the Samarkand summit and is hosting key ministerial meetings in the run-up to the SCO summit in July.
With its Secretariat in Beijing, the SCO comprises eight member states, including India and Pakistan, China and Russia and the Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
This is the first time India has assumed the Presidency of SCO after joining the Organisation in 2017 as a full Member State.
India took over the Presidency of SCO from Uzbekistan after the SCO Samarkand Summit on September 17 2022.
The period of India’s presidency will culminate in the SCO Heads of State Summit, which is scheduled in July in New Delhi.
“Focus on pushing English as a language other than Russian and Chinese remains during the SCO meet. This is something that has been emphasised a lot with the other members. India will lead two Working Groups Innovation and startups and traditional medicine,” sources told the media.
The theme of India’s Chairmanship of SCO in 2023 is ‘Secure-SCO’. India attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral, political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the region. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 2001.
MEA Secretary Dammu Ravi, who is also in Goa, said the Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Goa would also allow discussion of the state of multilateral cooperation in SCO, regional and global issues of interest, reform and modernisation of the Organisation and the progress of admitting Iran and Belarus to the SCO as new Member States.
Currently, eight countries enjoy the status of the SCO full members: India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; four countries — Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia — have observer status with the SCO, and six countries — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka — have a dialogue partner status.
The last meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
(with inputs from ANI)
