PM Modi to embark on 2-day visit to Uzbekistan for SCO Summit

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 14, Sep 2022

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Samarkand of  Uzbekistan from tomorrow to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit. Mr. Modi is vising the country at the invitation of Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Ministry of External Affairs said that at the summit, leaders are expected to review the grouping's activities over the past two decades and discuss the prospects of multilateral cooperation.  Our Correspondent reports, that the summit will be attended by leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests.

India is all set to assume the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - for the first time - from Uzbekistan which is hosting the 22nd SCO Summit this year in the historic Uzbek city of Samarkand from Thursday till Friday. After becoming an SCO member in 2017, India successfully hosted the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting on 30 November 2020 which is the second most important gathering of the group after the Council of Heads of state meeting also known as the SCO Summit. Among other initiatives, India’s diplomatic outreach to the SCO countries also leveraged the soft power of Indian cinema in the region which has turned out to be a great success.

To celebrate India’s successful conduct of the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in November 2020, Indian Embassy in Beijing launched a unique initiative - a movie series called "cinemaSCOpe" in December 2020 exclusively for the SCO countries in which Indian films dubbed in Russian along with English subtitle are screened every month. The initiative was hailed as a new beginning to bring the SCO Family together through a 'cultural connect' and enjoys huge popularity among the SCO diplomatic fraternity in these two years.

The "cinemaSCOpe" event in 2020 was jointly inaugurated by the then Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri and the then SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov. The first movie to be screened was the popular Amir Khan hit 'Three Idiots' and since then many popular Bollywood hits have been screened at the cultural center auditorium of the Indian Embassy. Ajay Devgan and Tabu starrer ‘Drishyam’ was the latest in the series which was widely appreciated for its acting, plot and storyline. This will continue till India's chairmanship of the SCO 'Council of Heads of State' meeting in 2023.

Families from SCO countries enjoy quality time with an Indian movie along with tasty Indian snacks and praised this as a great occasion to meet people from other SCO countries in a cheerful atmosphere.

The launching event was both a way to celebrate the successful conduct of the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting on 30 November and start a new track of bringing the SCO Family together through a 'cultural connect'.

Mr. Misri said, the Indian Embassy in Beijing had decided to make a small beginning on the road to building relationships through the medium of cinema. A proposal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an 'SCO Film Festival' is also under consideration by the Member States.

Mr. Norov who is now the foreign minister of Uzbekistan and is hosting this year’s Samarkand SCO summit congratulated the Indian Embassy after its inauguration in 2020 for taking the unique initiative and expressed happiness that the "cinemaSCOpe" event coincided with the 20th anniversary of SCO’s formation in 2021.

India has always maintained deep cultural ties and people-to-people exchanges with the countries in the region as the SCO region has historically been an extended neighborhood to India. The SCO region is a confluence of diverse civilizations and a cradle of rich traditions of art and culture which is also reflected in the cinemas made in SCO countries that are globally appreciated. The global influence of Indian Cinema, especially Bollywood is unparalleled, and it has helped propagate the Indian culture and civilizational message to far-off places.

Indian movies are quite popular in China and other SCO countries and have played a great role in people-to-people connections. The glorious past of Indian cinema and its remarkable journey over the past more than 100 years has definitely helped in it. In the last 100 years, Indian cinema has transcended boundaries and is not only seen as an art but a powerful medium to connect people. Indian movies, with Russian dubbing, have left a huge positive impression among the soviet movie fandom. Showman Raj Kapoor's ‘Awaara’, was one of the first Bollywood movies to be screened in the Soviet Union. From Raj Kapoor to Mithun Chakraborty to Amitabh Bachchan, many Indian actors and actresses are considered symbols of optimism in the households of Russia and Central Asia.

Source: News on Air