NEW DELHI: On the 15th and 16th of this month, leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional bloc comprising eight member states, including India, Russia and China, will meet in person in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is scheduled on the sidelines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit but there’s still no word on whether Xi and he will meet. The SCO summit comes amidst the Russian military action in Ukraine, a move that has the tacit support of China. India has maintained a neutral position. In this episode of ‘Ask Nitin’, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale gives a lowdown on the scope and function of the SCO that represents about 40 per cent of the world population.
