Rivals Pakistan and India to start joining China security bloc – The Wiire

New Delhi: The presence of the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit meeting in the Russian city of Ufa this week has triggered speculation of a possible meeting between the two that could pave the way for a thaw in relations. The SCO was founded in 1996 and is largely a forum for limited consultation and cooperation on political, economic, and military matters. This seeming delay in travelling to Russian Federation may surprise some, given that the Prime Minister has travelled to nearly all the major powers-US, Germany, France, China, Japan, Australia and Brazil-as well as most of India’s immediate neighbourhood.

Outlining the progress of the BRICS, the daily said since the first-ever meeting of its foreign ministers in 2006, the BRICS countries have established a multi-level framework of collaboration in terms of finance, economy and trade, industry and commerce, agriculture, health, science and technology.

PM Modi is also expected to meet Mr Xi and discuss the bilateral ties, amid India?s unhappiness over Beijing constructing an economic corridor to Pakistan.

“It is expected that, during the summit, the leaders will also receive feedback following their meeting on the margins of the G20 summit in Brisbane on 15 November 2014, at which they asked their finance ministers to designate the president and vice-presidents of the New Development Bank, in advance of the next summit”, President Jacob Zuma’s office said.

India, which is also the second largest shareholder in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank or AIIB, is keen to see that the BRICS Bank becomes a success, as it is increasingly frustrated with punching below its economic weight in the West-dominated Bretton Woods Institutions.

Russian Federation shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea.

Namo expressed confidence that his visit will further enhance ties with these countries as well as other members of BRICS and SCO. India’s SCO membership would allow it to participate in the regional anti-terrorist structure (RATS) based in Tashkent. Pakistan’s membership, if anything, will help it interface better with the organization’s Central Asian members and Russian Federation; Pakistan and China already enjoy a close strategic partnership.

Ushakov added that inclusion of India and Pakistan in the SCO demands the coordination of a working memorandum. A Russia-China-Pakistan triangle could mean India’s complete geostrategic encirclement. India is banking on the SCO contact group on Afghanistan, expected to play a more effective role in future. Internationalising the yuan is part of the foreign policy priorities under President Xi Jinping’s leadership.

Analyst Rudolf has a similar view: “Formally linking the “Silk Road Economic Belt” with the EEU under the SCO umbrella is one of the primary goals of Xi’s Ufa visit”.