Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Why in news?

• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit 2022 was held recently in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
• Major outcomes:
  • ‘Samarkand declaration’ was signed by the member states.
  • India takes over Presidency of the SCO for 2023.

About SCO:

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
• Currently the SCO comprises of:
  • Eight member states, namely India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
  • Four observer states, namely Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia.
  • Six dialogue partners, namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.

History:

• Its creation was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Charter was signed in 2002.
• In 2017, India and Pakistan were added as full-time members of the group.

Goals of SCO:

• Strengthening mutual trust and neighborliness among the member states.
• Promoting effective cooperation in areas such as politics, trade, economy, research, technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection etc.
• Making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.
• Moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

Structure:

• Heads of State Council (HSC):
  • The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.
  • It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
• Heads of Government Council (HGC):
  • The HGC meets once a year to discuss the organisation's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas, resolve current important cooperation issues, and approve the organization’s annual budget.
  • The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
• The organisation has two permanent bodies:
  • The SCO Secretariat based in Beijing
  • The Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent
• There are also mechanisms of meetings at the level of heads of parliament, secretaries, ministers of foreign affairs, defence, heads of law enforcement agencies and supreme courts etc.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Which of the following countries are members of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

1. India

2. Pakistan

3. Russia

4. Kazakhstan

5. Bangladesh

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1,2,3 and 4 only

(b) 2 and 5 only

(c) 1,3 and 4 only

(d) 1,2,3,4 and 5

Answer