External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Astana next week, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend. Modi is scheduled to visit Russia from July 8 to 9, marking his first trip to the country in nearly five years, followed by a visit to Austria on July 9 for a two-day trip.

Modi's decision to skip the SCO summit, set for July 3 and 4, is reportedly due to his planned visits to Russia and Austria, although official confirmation of these trips is still pending. The SCO summit will focus on regional security, connectivity, and trade enhancement.

"The Indian delegation at the SCO summit will be led by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar," announced Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at a recent media briefing. Key topics for the summit include the situation in Afghanistan, the Ukraine conflict, and overall security cooperation among SCO member states.

The SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is a significant economic and security organization. Typically, the Indian Prime Minister attends the SCO summit. In a recent phone call, Prime Minister Modi assured Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of India's full support for the summit's success. Kazakhstan is hosting the summit as the current chair of the SCO.

India chaired the SCO last year and hosted the summit virtually in July 2023. India's involvement with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer, and it became a full member at the Astana summit in 2017. India aims to deepen its security cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which addresses security and defense issues.

Founded in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the SCO expanded to include India and Pakistan as permanent members in 2017.