Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

Why in NEWS ?

• 20th Summit of SCO Council of Heads of State was held on November 10, 2020 via Video Conference.

About

• The Meeting was chaired by the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin while Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led the Indian delegation.
• Other SCO Member States were represented by their Presidents, while India and Pakistan were represented at the level of Prime Minister.
• Other participants were: Secretary General of the SCO Secretariat, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the Presidents of the four Observers (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, Mongolia) of the SCO.
• This was the first SCO Summit held in Virtual Format and third meeting that India participated after becoming a full member in 2017.

Prime Ministerial Address

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the SCO leaders congratulated President Vladimir Putin for organizing the meeting despite challenges and constraints arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Prime Minister, in his address, highlighted the imperative of a reformed multilateralism to meet the expectation of a world suffering from the social and financial after-effects of the pandemic.
• India, as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, beginning from 1 January 2021, will focus on the theme of ‘reformed multilateralism’ to bring about desirable changes in global governance.
• Prime Minister reiterated India’s firm belief in regional peace, security and prosperity and raising voice against terrorism, smuggling of illegal weapons, drugs and money-laundering.
• He mentioned that India’s brave soldiers participated in about 50 UN peacekeeping missions and India's Pharma industry supplying essential medicines to more than 150 countries during the pandemic.
• Prime Minister underlined India’s strong cultural and historical connect with the SCO region and reiterated India’s firm commitment towards strengthening connectivity in the region with initiatives like International North-South Transport Corridor, Chabahar Port and Ashgabat Agreement.
• He also extended full support to observing the 20th anniversary of SCO in 2021 as the "SCO Year of Culture” and spoke of India’s own initiatives to hold the first SCO exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage to be organized by National Museum of India, SCO Food Festival in India next year and the translation of Ten regional language literary works into Russian and Chinese.
• Prime Minister expressed India’s readiness to host the next regular Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government on November 30, 2020 in virtual format.
• India has also proposed to set up a Special Working Group on Innovation and Startups and a Sub Group on Traditional Medicine within SCO.
• He elaborated on India's vision of a "Aatma Nirbhar Bharat" (Self-reliant India) in the post-pandemic world that could prove to be a force multiplier for the global economy and the economic progress of the SCO region.
• Prime Minister also congratulated President Emomali Rahmon of the Republic of Tajikistan for assuming the chairmanship of SCO next year and assured full cooperation from India.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO

• The SCO, an intergovernmental body for security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region, was formed in 2001 by the ‘Shanghai Five’ (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan).
• It was formed in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.
• It is Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• Uzbekistan joined the SCO in 2001, while its membership was expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017.
• The SCO has traditionally prioritised on counter-terrorism, listing terrorism, separatism and extremism as the three evils.
• However, since its formation, the SCO’s domain has expanded to include subjects such as culture and economics.

Objectives

• Strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states.
• To promote their effective cooperation in trade, politics, research, the economy, technology, and culture.
• To co-operate in Education, transport, energy, environmental protection, tourism, and other areas.
• Making joint efforts to maintain and ensure security, stability, and peace in the region.
• Moving towards the establishment of a democratic, rational, and fair new international economic and political order.
• The organisation pursues its internal policy based on the principles of mutual benefit, mutual trust, mutual consultations, equality, respect for cultural diversity, and a desire for common development, while the external policy is conducted under the principles of non-targeting and non-alignment.

Structure

• The organisation has two permanent bodies — the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.
• The SCO Secretary-General and the Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO RATS are appointed by the Council of Heads of State for a term of three years.
• However, the venue of the SCO council meetings moves between the eight members

Membership

• SCO comprises eight member states, namely the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• SCO counts four observer states, namely the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Mongolia.
• SCO has six dialogue partners, namely the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the Republic of Turkey, and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Significance

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is becoming vital to India’s Eurasia policy.
• It will help India in its Counter-terrorism efforts as SCO’s main objective is of working cooperatively against the “three evils” and India wants access to intelligence and information from SCO’s counter-terrorism body, RATS.
• A stable Afghanistan too is in India’s interest, and RATS provides access to non- Pakistan-centred counter-terrorism information there.
• SCO is also a platform for alignments on issues such as energy security, connectivity and trade.
• Connectivity is important for India’s Connect Central Asia policy. Energy cooperation dominates its interest – and it’s in China’s neighbourhood. But India will also have to deal with an assertive China, which will push its Belt and Road Initiative during the summit.
• SCO membership also bolsters India’s status as a major pan-Asian player, which is boxed in the South Asian paradigm.
• Besides, India has been indicating, for some time now, the little use for SAARC.
• So, the SCO provides the only multilateral platform for it to deal in close proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Going ahead, India’s strategy of balancing the competing interests of SCO and other such multilateral groupings will be tested.