He said India attaches great importance to ties with Central Asia and always seeks to expand economic and people-to-people ties with the region.
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Prime Minister Modi earlier today also held bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the16th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit here.
India has assumed chairmanship of the influential bloc BRICS comprising five countries having 42 per cent of the world population and combined GDP of over Dollars 16 trillion.
India will have to sign around 30 other documents in the course of the year to complete the process for membership.
The Prime Minister said India’s capacities in trade, investment, information and communication technology, space, S&T, agriculture, healthcare, and small- and medium-scale industry can bring widespread economic benefit to the SCO countries.
India along with Pakistan was granted membership of the SCO last July.
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
President Mamnoon Hussain represented Pakistan at the signing ceremony at the 16th Heads of the State Council of the SCO held here in the Uzbek capital, while Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz inked the document. India, Iran and Pakistan were admitted as observers at the 2005 Astana Summit. India is also keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.
Earlier, Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain met Xi on the sidelines of the summit and thanked China for supporting Pakistan’s case for NSG membership.
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“We are indeed grateful to the SCO Member States and its leaders for their overwhelming support for India’s membership of the SCO”.
