India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and leaders of four central Asian countries attended a virtual summit of the political and security group formed in 2001 by Beijing and Moscow.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also took part in the proceedings as Tehran is due to join as the ninth member on Tuesday and Belarus will sign a memorandum of obligations which will lead to its membership later.

When both countries, which have observer status and close ties to Moscow, are accepted as members of the SCO it will expand the grouping’s western flank in both Europe and Asia.

In his address from Beijing to the online summit, Xi called for strengthening exchanges and mutual learning among SCO members and efforts to safeguard regional peace and ensure common security, Chinese state media reported.

He urged the grouping to focus on pragmatic cooperation to speed up economic recovery and to follow the right direction and enhance solidarity and mutual trust.

Putin, making his first appearance at an international forum since a short-lived mutiny last month, reassured the leaders of Russia’s stability and unity.

Moscow, Putin said, planned to boost ties with SCO and supported the transition to local currencies for trade settlement. He also warned that the potential for conflicts and the risk of a global economic crisis were on the rise.

Putin thanked members of the SCO who he said had expressed their support for his efforts “to protect the constitutional order, the lives and security of citizens”.

He told them that Russia would stand up against Western pressure, sanctions and “provocations” imposed over what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia views countries such as China, India and Iran – the newest member of the SCO – as key partners in confronting the United States and resisting what it portrays as U.S. attempts to dictate the world order.

The summit takes place barely two weeks after Modi was hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden for a state visit, and the two countries called themselves “among the closest partners in the world”.

Diplomatic Tightrope

India, which holds the presidency of SCO and the G20 this year, has walked a diplomatic tightrope as relations between Western nations and a Russia-China partnership have been fraught due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and Beijing’s growing assertive presence in the global geopolitical theatre.

Speaking earlier as he opened the summit, Modi urged SCO members to jointly fight terrorism, help Afghanistan and tackle global challenges such as food, fuel and fertiliser shortages.

He said the world is embroiled in disputes, tensions and the impact of the pandemic and global food, fuel and fertiliser crises are big challenges for all countries.

“We need to think together that are we, as a group, capable of meeting the expectations and ambitions of our people? Are we capable of facing modern challenges?” Modi said. “Is SCO becoming a group that is completely ready for the future?”

Putin spoke to Modi in a call last week in the aftermath of the mercenary mutiny. During the discussion, Modi reiterated a call for dialogue and diplomacy regarding the war in Ukraine.

Last year on the sidelines of the summit in Uzbekistan, Modi told Putin that it was not the era of war, which is the closest India has come to addressing the issue directly with the Russian leader.

Both Putin and Xi are expected to visit New Delhi in September as India hosts the G20 summit, and Biden and leaders of other member nations are also likely to be present.

India has refused to blame Russia for the war and increased bilateral trade largely by lifting purchases of Russian oil to a record high, which has irked several Western capitals.

Pakistan’s Sharif said the international community finds itself in a standstill on Afghanistan and that critical support needed by Kabul to prevent a humanitarian crisis has been withheld.

“This policy needs an urgent reset,” Sharif said.

“The international community should meaningfully engage with the interim Afghan government to take the next steps. Similarly, the interim Afghan government should take concrete measures to ensure its soil is not used for terrorism by any entity.”

No country, including Pakistan, has formally recognised the Taliban’s administration since it took over the country in 2021. A cut in development aid by foreign donors and sanctions on its banking sector have severely hampered the economy.

The eight-member bloc’s defence and foreign ministers attended in-person meetings in India earlier this year.

China’s defence minister came to India in April for a meeting of the SCO’s defence ministers, the first visit of a Chinese defence minister to India since a Himalayan border clash between the two countries’ troops in May 2020.

Pakistan’s foreign minister visited India earlier this month, but his trip did not suggest any thaw in their frosty relations.

The SCO is a political and security bloc that includes Russia and China, and India has been the chair since September.

Panaji (AP) — Foreign ministers from a group of nations led by China and Russia criticized on Friday the ability of world institutions to resolve geopolitical problems, including the coronavirus pandemic, and said their organization should do more to address such challenges.

Indian Foreign Minister Subhramanyam Jaishankar said in remarks at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that the crises have disrupted global supply chains and have hit developing nations the hardest.

They have “exposed a credibility and trust deficit in the ability of global institutions to manage challenges in a timely and efficient manner,” he said, adding that alternative organizations like the SCO can help address such challenges.

“With more than 40% of the world’s population within the SCO, our collective decisions will surely have a global impact,” he said.

Russia and China founded the SCO in 2001 as a counterweight to U.S. alliances across East Asia to the Indian Ocean. The group includes the four Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which Russia considers its backyard. In 2017, India and Pakistan became members, and Iran and Belarus are set to join later this year.

Russia and China have sought to reduce the dominance of what they see as U.S. and Western-led global institutions and alliances, and China accuses Washington of attempting to contain its economic and military rise.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told the foreign ministers that “the world is faced with multiple crises and challenges featuring a resurgence of the Cold War mentality, headwinds of unilateral protectionism, as well as rising hegemonism and power politics,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.

“SCO members should support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, and oppose external forces interfering in regional issues,” he said.

At a briefing after the meeting, Jaishankar dismissed questions about whether the SCO is anti-Western, saying, “how people perceive it is something I cannot answer for.” Instead, he stressed India’s “multidirectional foreign policy” and said “it’s not always possible that all our partners get along with other partners.”

India enjoys strong ties with Cold War ally Russia, while its relations with the United States have warmed in recent years and its ties with China have cooled over a border dispute. It is increasingly seen by the West as a counterweight to China’s growing global ambitions.

Jaishankar did not mention Russia’s war in Ukraine, and analysts said Moscow was unlikely to face a backlash over its invasion from the SCO and would instead use the meeting to flex its influence in the region. For Russia, the SCO remains one of the few international groups where it can still comfortably engage with members and further ties.

The visit by Pakistan’s foreign minister to archrival India to attend the meeting was the first by a high-ranking Pakistani official in nearly a decade. Jaishankar stressed the need to stop cross-border terrorism in his remarks, a dig at Pakistan, which India accuses of arming and training rebels fighting for the independence of Indian-controlled Kashmir or its integration into Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

“Let’s not get caught up in weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in his opening remarks.

Despite speculation, India and Pakistan did not hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the meeting. “Victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism,” Jaishankar said at the briefing.

Jaishankar held separate talks with his Chinese and Russian counterparts on Thursday.

The meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin came amid continued tensions along their disputed border, where a three-year standoff involves thousands of soldiers stationed in the eastern Ladakh region.

Qin earlier said the border situation was “stable overall” and that both sides should abide by existing agreements to “promote the further cooling and easing of the border situation and maintain sustainable peace and tranquility in the border area,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

India did not release a statement after the meeting, but Jaishankar said relations between the two countries were not normal and “cannot be if peace and tranquility in border areas is disturbed.”

Qin also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday. China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas exports, pumping billions of dollars into the Russian treasury and helping the Kremlin resist Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing is also trying to present itself as a global diplomatic force and has said it is willing to serve as a mediator in the war.

Last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Beijing will send an envoy to Ukraine to discuss a possible political settlement.

China has blamed the U.S. and NATO for provoking Russia and refused to criticize Moscow’s actions. However, it has refrained from issuing a full-throated endorsement of the invasion and is not known to have provided arms or other material assistance to the Russian military effort.