Shanghai Cooperation Organisation- Quick Facts that you should know

SCO is a Eurasian alliance- meaning it has members from Europe as well as Asia.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has been in the news recently as the summit this year would be in New Delhi.

Let us know more about SCO through fact pointers.

What is SCO?

• It is a Eurasian alliance- meaning it has members from Europe as well as Asia.
• The alliance is for cooperation on matters of political, security and economic issue.

History of SCO

• It grew out of Shanghai Five that was founded in 1996

• The original 5 were- China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

• SCOin its current form came about in 2001 and Uzbekistan also joined the alliance.

• The charter for SCOwas signed at St.Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting in June 2002 and came into force in 19^th September 2003.

India and SCO

• India and Pakistan became full members of SCOin 2017 in Astana.
• India will be hosting the SCOsummit of 2020 in October. It is the first time India is doing so.

Current Status

• China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan are the current members of SCO.

• It has four observer states- Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.

• It has six dialogue partners- Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.

• Vladimir Imamovich Norov is the Secretary-General.

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Goals of SCO

• It works towards maintaining peace and stability in the area.
• The countries also work together in areas of trade, technology, culture, economy, political issues, transport and many more.

Organisational Structure of SCO

• Heads of State Council (HSC) – meets every year and is the topmost decision-making body.

• Heads of Government Council (HGC) – meets every year and discusses the strategy of the organisation. It also focuses on ongoing issues and priority areas. The budget is also finalised by them.

• It has a permanent body which is the Executive Committee of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)in Tashkent.

• Another permanent body is The SCOSecretariat is in Beijing.

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