Context
India, at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), presented a three-point roadmap for peace in Afghanistan.
- It is a part of the ongoing peace process after the announcement of US forces to leave Afghanistan.
About the Three-Point Peace Plan for Afghanistan
- The three-point roadmap entails:
- cessation of violence and terrorist attacks
- settlement of the conflict through political dialogue
- steps to ensure that neighbouring countries are not threatened by terrorism
- India emphasized the Doha process, Moscow format and Istanbul process frameworks for dialogue to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.
India Afghanistan Cooperation
- Strategic Partnership Agreement, signed between Afghanistan and India in October 2011.
- Salma Dam officially named the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan.
- The Indian government is investing more than US$100 million in the expansion of the Chabahar port in southeastern Iran which will serve as a hub for the transportation of transit goods.
- India has also constructed a new Parliament complex for the Afghan government.
- Memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for strengthening cooperation in the fields of rural development, education and standardisation was also signed.
- In 2005, India proposed Afghanistan's membership in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation)
- SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization.
- The creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by Kazakhstan, the China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter was signed during the St.Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in June 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003.
- India and Pakistan became members of the organization in 2017.
- The SCO's main goals are as follows:
- strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states
- promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other area
- making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region
- moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order
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