In this solo commentary, geopolitical analyst David Oualaalou examines India’s decision to decline signing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Economic Development Strategy for 2030. He explains that India objected to a single word – “interested” – in the New Delhi Declaration, interpreting it as a lack of universal endorsement and a sign of pro‑China language tied to President Xi’s Global Development Initiative. Oualaalou traces the historical background of the strategy, noting its origins in a 2017 Tajikistan proposal and its adoption in 2022, when India had previously supported it. He argues that the refusal signals India’s growing economic and geopolitical isolation, especially in relation to China, BRICS, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), from which India withdrew in 2022. The analyst suggests that, like RCEP, the SCO and BRICS should consider asking India to withdraw its membership to avoid hindering their collective progress. Throughout, he highlights the strategy’s potential benefits for India—digital economy, transport corridors, finance, energy, food security—and questions why India would reject them. The video concludes with a call for viewers to like and subscribe, emphasizing that geopolitics affects daily life.
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Hello everyone and welcome to Geopolitical Trends. My name is David Oualaalou. So good to be with you as always. As geopolitical analyst, I ask, why did India refuse to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, known as SCO, uh, Economic Development Strategy for 2030? In this video, I am going to not only provide you the answer but also highlight to you how India is inadvertently isolating itself economically and geopolitically. Let's dive in into this fascinating development. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, who chaired the virtual summit of the Euro-Asian Regional Group, uh, uh, after which 11 documents and decisions were adopted And among those documents were the New Delhi Declaration. Now here is the interesting aspect. Among the various outcomes of the SCO was the Economic Development Strategy for 2030, which according to the Kremlin, to Russia in this case, was among the approved decisions of the council of the head of state. So India recently just refused to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO's, economic development strategy for 2030, and its reason is due to objection over retaining language that echoed Chinese official policies. How insane this is. So in a, in, in a simple language, India is objecting, not even signing the whole agreements. It's because it is perceiving the language that is favoring China. And I'm gonna explain to you, the New Delhi Declaration mentioned the document but with the unique phrasing It said that the SCO leaders, and I put this in quote, consider, consider it important to ensure the implementation of the SCO's Economic Development Strategy 2030 adopted by interested member states, end of quote. Now, this whole hoopla from India is about one word, and that word is interested. And I'm gonna explain it. So by inserting the phrase, and I put it in quotes, in interested, it was clear that the document had not got universal endorsement. This is what India is arguing. That's why it didn't sign it with the rest of the SCO members. Well, no, no, no, no, the rest of the SCO members agreed to it. It was India that refused to sign it. Because the rest of the members approved the document. So there are now sources saying that inside the SCO saying that India has largely given up, uh, uh, uh, as the final text of the document remain injected with too many references to Chinese diplomatic catchphrases and policies that reflected the bad policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping, like the Global Development Initiative. What all this means? It means that, in my opinion— and again, this is my opinion— it means that India is not happy with how things are moving forward with China, because China is a member of the SCO as well. So apparently India is objecting to all this because India is not willing to accept the reality that it is no match for China. So it is perceiving everything now that is favoring China, which is not true. It's no different than what happened with BRICS, you know, like I did in a video for you guys last time arguing that is India undermining BRICS? It's because the adoption of the new currency, the yuan, will play a much bigger role in it. Why? Because of China's economic output on the global stage. India doesn't have that. So, so here is the interesting thing. The SCO economic development strategy has not been made yet public. It is not clear what it entails, but India is already voiced its objection and refused to sign it. So I'm starting to think, literally, could it be now that the SCO and BRICS, for that matter, need to follow in the footsteps of the RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, when, uh, where India used to be a member, no longer. India is not a member of the RCEP. It wasn't kicked out. I did find out it was not kicked out, out of the RCEP, but withdrew its membership and left, and RCEP moved on. Could it be that SCO and BRICS needs to do the same and ask India to withdraw its membership? What do you think? So because what India is arguing is that the New Delhi Declaration indicates that the strategy documents could involve areas of digital economy, high technology and innovation, modernization of existing international routes for road and rail transport, multimodal, or multimodal transport corridors and logistics centers, finance and investments, energy and food security, reliable, resilient, and diversified supply chain chains, and industrial cooperation. End of quote. Well, all these are good. Would it make more sense for India to benefit from this? Instead, instead, India refused to endorse this Strategy 2030. So it's becoming clear to me that maybe India is not willing to be a team player. And if you are not willing to be a team player, please get out of the way. Simple as it is. The Russian President Vladimir Putin's public remark about this is that, and I put it in quote, the implementation of the SCO economic development strategy to 2030 will further promote regional integration, end of quote. This is why I asked as geopolitical analyst, what are the implications? Is India isolating itself both economically and geopolitically? Where from here? Well, apparently, if I am to look at the history, I'll go back to 2022, in March 2022. And again, this is why I always tell you guys, reading the press releases or, or the final communiqué is very important. And here is what's important, and I looked into it and I read it. The press release, or the press communiqué, or the final communiqué of the SCO back in March 2022 claimed, and I read, and I quote rather, strat— the strategy will chart the main areas of investments, financial, trade, and other forms of economic cooperation in the SCO region, end of quote. So it's become clear that they already talked about this back in 2022, and India agreed to that. How come all of a sudden it's changed its mind? And as I said last time in one of my previous videos, all India's decisions happen to be right after Prime Minister Modi returned from the United States. So you can read between the lines, and this is why I am more than convinced it is time to ask India to withdraw its membership from SCO and from BRICS altogether. That's my opinion. So, and then, by the way, this initiative in, uh, in 2022, uh, was initiated, uh, by Tajikistan president Imam Ali Rahman at the SCO back in even 2017 summit. In 2017, the president of Tajikistan, Imam Ali Rahman, mentioned this, you know, in a sort of proposal. 2017, it was adopted in 2022, and yet India agreed to it. So, and it was confirmed Uzbekistan last year. This is what's mind-boggling, how all of a sudden India will be the only one to refuse to sign this. Now, I am not denying that India needs to look for its own interest. That is not what I'm, you know, I'm not saying otherwise. But at the same time, I stated, I read to you what this strategy entails, and I am sure India can benefit from this. I mean, won't India benefit from having an infrastructure? Wouldn't India benefit from a good financial system that is working on behalf of every Indian citizen, not the upper class? Wouldn't India benefit from alleviating poverty? I mean, you got the idea. Here is the thing. Another endorsement from the SCO that India is not part of is China's Belt and Road Initiative. So every year, every year, this is reflected by the absence of India in the list of countries that support China's flagship connectivity project, in, uh, as it was declared in the summit. So some of India's proposals also don't seem to have been approved at the summit, which tells me right there Maybe the SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, have had enough with India and time for it to really withdraw its membership or remove itself from the organization altogether, like what it did with the RCEP, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. So this is how I see it moving. So I think And again, this is my conclusion for you because I like to keep these videos brief and concise. Is my, my brief conclusion and to the point is that I think that both SCO and BRICS needs to follow in the footsteps of the RCP and provide a document for India to sort of withdraw its membership from the club and be done with this. Otherwise, both organizations, the SCO and BRICS will be hindered in their economic progress moving forward. If you find this content of this video very informative, please hit that like button, I will really appreciate it, and subscribe, I will also thank you for that. So as always, remember, geopolitics impact your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, guys, bye-bye.
