Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of the Heads of Government Summit (SCO-CHG) today in Islamabad called for expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), saying it would enhance regional trade cooperation and promote “the vision of a connected Eurasia.… Flagship projects like the Belt and Road Initiative of President Xi Jinping, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor … should be expanded, focusing on developing road, rail, and digital infrastructure that enhances integration and cooperation across our region.… Let us not look at such projects through the narrow political prism, and [instead] invest in our collective connectivity capacities, which are crucial to advancing the shared vision of an economically integrated region.”
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, also today, delivered what was called a veiled message to Pakistan and China by several Indian press: “It is axiomatic that development and growth requires peace and stability. And as the Charter spelt out, this means being firm and uncompromising in countering the ‘three evils’ [terrorism, separatism, extremism] If activities across borders are characterized by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel.” India’s long-standing objection to the BRI is that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Nonetheless, it is of note that Jaishankar is the first Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade. He led the Indian delegation at the SCO-CHG summit in the Pakistani capital city, Islamabad.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin were among the Heads of Government from the 10-member grouping who attended the Oct. 16 gathering, including host Pakistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Iran. Li Qiang and Mishustin met with each other, with Prime Minister Sharif and with other government leaders.
