⇒ Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh visited Dushanbe, Tajikistan from July 27-29, 2021 to attend the annual meeting of the Defence Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states. Issues of Defence cooperation among SCO member states were discussed in the annual meeting.
Shri Rajnath Singh’s addressed the meeting on July 28, 2021. Highlights of Shri Rajnath Singh’s address:
» Member-States of the SCO completed 20 years of its existence, has collective stakes to create a safe and secure region.
» India completed 500 projects in Afghanistan; gave aid of USD 3 Bn.
» Peace and Prosperity cannot coexist with terrorism, which is a crime against humanity.
» Non-traditional threats like water security, climate change pose challenges as Covid-19 pandemic.
» Indian Armed Forces and DRDO played a stellar role to counter Covid-19 challenges.
» During the global pandemic, India was able to provide support and assistance to countries around the world. This includes 6.6 crore doses of vaccines to 90 countries, support with medicine, medical consumables and equipment to 150 countries.
» ‘Vande Bharat’ logistic service helped over 70 lakh stranded people including foreigners move out of distress.
» India accords high priority to consolidation of trust in security domain within SCO as well as strengthening ties with SCO partners.