As of now, the SCO consists of six members- Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These were the original six members when the group was formed in 2001 and despite interests shown by many other Asian countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Mangolia, Pakistan and India, for long, the original founding members refused to expand the membership but this changed in 2014 summit when it was decided that India and Pakistan can be considered for membership of SCO at the 2015 summit thereby expanding the membership to eight.

In fact SCO summit is being held in July in Russia under Russian presidency at a time when Russia has been cornered by the western powers over Ukraine and President Putin is depending on the Asian powers to show to the west that Russia has enough friends among the global powers to ignore the threats and isolation from the west. Russia needs the strengthening of SCO and it is in Russia’s interests that the SCO is expanded and an emerging big economy like India is included.

Apart, the latest understanding of the west with Iran on the nuclear issue and the possibility of withdrawal of sanctions against Iran and the conclusion of the final deal by June 30 this year, have opened up fresh possibilities for considering membership of Iran to SCO in near future. In fact, the inclusion of Iran in SCO as a full member will give big muscle power to the SCO in emerging as a very powerful block of non-west countries. It is also significant that the summit of the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will also be held in Ufa just on the eve of the SCO summit and this gives both Russia and China the two big players in both BRICS and SCO to coordinate the security and economic programmes of both the blocks towards a common objective.

For India, the SCO membership offers the country a big opportunity to have a greater say on issues like combating terrorism and participation in major oil and gas projects in central Asia. India is already having relationship with the four central Asian republics in the sphere of oil and gas as also other high tech areas but the SCO membership will bring India much closer to the four central Asian countries and it will be easier for India to work out arrangements on more favourable terms..

Both China and Russia have invested heavily in the resource rich region of central Asia. The SCO Business Council, Interbank Consortium and the Energy Club are at the forefront of expanding collaboration and cooperation among the member states of SCO. India can get this advantage of collaboration through the SCO Business Council after July summit. India is very much interested in energy security and the policy of the Government is to look for oil fields outside so that the oil produced from overseas can help in reducing imports of oil by India.

India can also make use of SCO summit to convey its views on Afghanistan. Cooperation between China and Russia on Afghanistan has been growing since 2013 and this will be a major factor for Afghan leadership following US withdrawal. India is watching the developments in Afghanistan following the coming of the new President Ghani who will be visiting India also. India will certainly like to ensure that the post US withdrawal Afghanistan Government remains friendly to India and India is posted of the nature of the talks which the new Afghan regime will be carrying with the Talibans shortly.

Russian President Putin who will host the summit at Ufa, has big plans to make a success of SCO meeting in July. He said that in 2015, the process of SCO expansion will get real outlines and Russia plans to hold about 100 events of different levels. He mentioned that the priorities of Russian chairmanship include enhancing the role of the organization as an efficient mechanism of regional security, launching major multilateral and humanitarian ties and developing joint approaches to pressing and global issues. President Putin has focused on the connectivity aspect and he has especially mentioned linking Baikal Amur mainline-Trans Siberian railroad within Western China-Europe Transport Corridor. At the same time Chinese President has underlined the need for old Silk Road project which is of big interest to India

At the last SCO summit, Kazakhstan President stressed on water shortage problem and said that the creation of water committee could become a practical mechanism for cooperation addressing this issue. All the four CIS members are in favour of thorough discussions on the water shortage problem in the region and it is quite likely that the Ufa summit will spend some time on discussing this issue. In fact Kazakhstan Go0vernment has warned unless, the water issue is tackled by all the four members, there will be a serious water shortage situation in 2020 in the entire region.

India is an emerging economic power and its economic growth rate is expected to be highest in 2015 and 2016 surpassing China. India can make use of this new found clout as also the strength of a strong Government at the centre to influence the policy making at SCO deliberations. A trilateral collaboration between India, Russia and China can ensure peace and prosperity in both Asia-Pacific and the world. (IPA Service)