S Jaishankar calls on SCO nations to strictly adhere to itnl law principles

Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO should work together to promote stability and prosperity in the region by strictly adhering to the principles of international law respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other and encouraging economic cooperation External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday in an apparent dig at ChinaJaishankars remarks came as he addressed the 22nd session of the Council of Heads of Government of SCO at Bishkek Kyrgyzstan SCO should work together to promote stability and prosperity in the region by strictly adhering to the principles of international law respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other and encouraging economic cooperation he said in his addressIn this context the centrality of the interests of Central Asian states plays a key role he saidBeijing is investing billions of dollars in the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor CPEC in Pakistan India has protested against the projects in Pakistan as it is being laid through the Pakistanoccupied Kashmir PoK He said India shares deep civilisational ties with the people of the SCO regionCurrently the SCO countries include India Iran Kazakhstan China Kyrgyz Republic Pakistan Russia Tajikistan and UzbekistanThe continuous movement of goods ideas and people traversing the region has left indelible imprints on our customs traditions language and cuisine These historical relationships should now create a template for greater economic cooperation Jaishankar saidTo improve trade within the region we need robust connectivity and infrastructure Such initiatives should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries he saidThe Global South should not be saddled with unviable debt arising from opaque initiatives Jaishankar said in another jibe at China which is accused of launching unviable infrastructure projects in countries like Sri Lanka and Pakistan saddling those countries with debtsAt the same time Jaishankar said that the IndiaMiddle EastEurope Economic Corridor IMEC and the International NorthSouth Transport Corridor INSTC could become prosperity enablersThe IndiaMiddle EastEurope Economic Corridor which many see as an alternative to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative was jointly announced by the leaders of the US India Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates France Germany Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in SeptemberThe International NorthSouth Transport Corridor is a 7200km long multimode network of ship rail and road routes for moving freight between India Iran Azerbaijan Russia Central Asia and EuropeThe Global South refers to countries often characterised as developing less developed or underdeveloped primarily located in Africa Asia and Latin AmericaBeijing was the lender of choice for many nations over the past decade Many borrowed heavily from China There have been global concerns over debt traps and regional hegemony by China using its ambitious Belt and Road BRI infrastructure projectsChina is doling out huge sums of money for infrastructure projects in countries from Asia to Africa and Europe The US previous Donald Trump administration had been extremely critical of the BRI and was of the view that Chinas predatory financing is leaving smaller countries under huge debt endangering their sovereigntyDuring its SCO presidency Jaishankar said India focused on five new verticals of cooperation Startups and Innovation Traditional Medicine Science and Technology Youth Empowerment and Shared Buddhist Heritage The response received highlighted the relevance of the chosen themesWe adopted a Statement on Cooperation in Digital Transformation and we have also institutionalized a Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation India is also hosting SCO Startup Forum on a regular basis he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever