India, chairing the Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu is to host a virtual meeting of the heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations. It will see a participation of 7 Prime Ministers -- 6 from the member states of SCO (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and one from observer member Belarus. The SCO has 8 member states and 4 observer states. Pakistan a member of SCO will be represented by its Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs because the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is giving the meet a miss.

The other three observer states will be represented too. President Ashraf Ghani represents Afghanistan, Iran by its First Vice President and Mongolia by its Deputy Prime Minister. A statement from India's MEA Ministry of External Affairs said,"​India considers the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important regional organization to promote cooperation in the areas of peace, security, trade, economy and culture. India is committed to widening our cooperation with SCO by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization."

The host has invited the Turkmenistan as a special guest. SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Chairmen of the SCO Business Council and the SCO Interbank Association will also be present in the virtual meet. The top focus of India at the meet are the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, shared Buddhist connect. The inauguration of the Shared Buddhist Heritage by the National Museum, the first-ever SCO Digital Exhibition is to be made. 2020 is the 15th year of India's formal association with SCO, the country has become a full member of the Beijing headquartered grouping in 2017 earlier it was an observer. 

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