In Samarkand, talks on energy security etc. will be held at SCO summit

16 Sep 2022 , 07:31 AM

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan will include discussions on energy security, according to India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Thursday, reported by ET.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and others will attend the two-day meeting in the Silk Road city of Samarkand.

It occurs at the same time as a substantial increase in Russian oil, coal, and fertilizer imports into India, a crucial market for Moscow as it looks to expand after Western sanctions were put in place as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

A security pact between Russia, China, and former Soviet governments in central Asia gave rise to the SCO in the 1990s. With the addition of India and Pakistan five years ago, it became the largest regional organization in the world, representing more than half of the Eurasian landmass and 40% of the global population.

Putin and Modi will meet on Friday, according to the Kremlin, and talk about commerce, especially food sales and Russian fertilizer imports.

According to data from industry sources, refiners in India increased imports to a record 757,000 barrels per day in April—August from 20,000 bpd a year earlier. Prior to the Ukraine crisis, refiners in India rarely purchased Russian oil.

Russia, which leads the SCO oil production, has surpassed the US to become India’s fourth-largest coal supplier.

According to data from the Indian consultancy Coalmint, India’s imports of coal increased to 9.35 million tonnes in the six months since the invasion, nearly doubling the 4.83 million tonnes imported during the same period in 2021.

According to the website of the Indian commerce ministry, India’s imports of fertilizers from Russia increased to $1.03 billion in April—July 2022 from $150.28 million during the same period in 2021.

In order to mitigate the effects of the devaluation of international currencies, the Reserve Bank of India developed a method to settle international commerce in rupees in July. This action was perceived as facilitating trade with Russia.

However, since the conflict in Ukraine started, India’s exports to Russia have decreased. According to government figures, they decreased from April to July by nearly a third from the corresponding time in 2021.

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