“We assess the global economic situation to be particularly uncertain and volatile currently. Supply-side risks have been aggravated by demand-side complexities. There is consequently an urgent requirement to de-risk and diversify.”
With that, Dr S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, called for “forging the widest possible economic links” while underscoring that this process be fair, transparent and equitable.
He was speaking at the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Moscow. He called for the modernisation of SCO structures, stronger responses to modern challenges such as cybercrime and trafficking networks, and an overdue decision to adopt English as an official language.
He highlighted youth-focused initiatives including the SCO Start-Up Forum and Young Authors Forum—as channels to build the next generation of regional linkages.
Dr Jaishankar also referred to the proposal for an SCO Civilizational Dialogue Forum, the exhibitions of Buddhist relics across the region, and New Delhi’s readiness to share its heritage-conservation expertise.
He concluded by returning to the SCO’s foundational purpose: confronting terrorism, separatism and extremism. His remarks were firm, insisting that these threats require uncompromising clarity and that India will continue to defend its citizens whenever challenged.
Jaishankar’s address came after a detailed bilateral conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who framed the meeting as part of an unusually active diplomatic calendar between the two countries this year.
This is Jaishankar’s sixth meeting with Lavrov, which the latter cited as evidence that the India–Russia partnership occupies a central space in Moscow’s foreign policy.
Lavrov spoke of a diplomatic pipeline that now operates at multiple levels, security councils, foreign and defence ministries, and sectoral agencies, supported by an expanding network of agreements and operational mechanisms.
He stressed Russia and India’s ongoing push to create business environments insulated from external pressures. He cited growing bilateral trade and the slow but steady knitting together of supply chains intended to withstand geopolitical volatility.
Projects such as the International North-South Transport Corridor and the developing Northern Sea Route, he suggested, are becoming shared platforms for long-term economic cooperation.
