In a thinly veiled message to Pakistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said cooperation in areas like trade, energy and connectivity is unlikely to flourish if activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism

In his address at a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Jaishankar also asserted that cooperation must be based on mutual respect and sovereign equality and that it should recognise the territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations

The external affairs minister led the Indian delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit in Islamabad which was chaired by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

Jaishankar said trust was key for cooperation and the SCO member nations can benefit immensely if the grouping moves ahead collectively

"It should recognise territorial integrity and sovereignty. It must be built on genuine partnerships, not unilateral agendas. It cannot progress if we cherry-pick global practices, especially of trade and transit," he said, in remarks seen as an indirect reference to China's assertive behaviour on key issues

He said cooperation must be based on mutual respect and sovereign equality

"If activities across borders are characterised by terrorism, extremism and separatism, they are hardly likely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges in parallel," Jaishankar said

The external affairs minister underlined the need for every SCO member nation to strictly adhere to the charter of the grouping, highlighting its essence of strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good neighbourliness