Leaders of 15 nations will assemble in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the 21st Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit for two days that is scheduled to begin on September 15.
This year’s summit will be the first in-person meet after the Covid pandemic hit the world. The last summit was held in June 2019 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
What is SCO?
The SCO is primarily a geopolitical and security organisation with limited infrastructures to pursue economic integration. The group accounts for about one-third of the world’s land and exports trillions of dollars annually.
It is governed by consensus, which limits the scope of major cooperation between its member states.
It also functions more as a venue for discussion and engagement where high-level dignitaries from across the region can gather to confer, rather than an alliance like the EU, whose members have a common currency, or NATO.
The SCO was founded in June 2001 by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China.
The genesis of the grouping can be traced back to the post-soviet era in 1996 when these countries, termed ‘Shanghai Five’, came together
Earlier, it focused on regional security to work on regional security, reduction of border troops, and terrorism.
Its particular focus has been on “conflict resolution”, which provided early successes between China and Russia, and then within the Central Asian Republics.
Structure of SCO
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.
But the venue of the SCO council meetings shifts between the eight members (including India and Pakistan).
Members of SCO
Apart from the above mentioned countries— Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and China— India and Pakistan are also members of this organisation, both included in 2017.
The SCO also has three observer states — Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia — which may be inducted at a later date. And “Dialogue Partners” —Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia.
New member Iran
The membership of Iran, which was also among the observer states, was approved last year by the bloc’s permanent members.
Iran’s previous bids for SCO membership were blocked because it was under United Nations sanctions, and some members, including Tajikistan, were against it due to Tehran’s perceived support for the Islamic Movement of Tajikistan.
Main goals
The main goals of the SCO, as adopted in its Charter in St. Petersburg in 2002, is: “strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research and technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.”
Agenda of this year’s summit
According to the press release of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the leaders are expected to review the organisation’s activities over the past two decades and discuss the state and prospects of multilateral cooperation in the future.
Topical issues of regional and global importance are also expected to be discussed at the meeting.
SCO presidency
Uzbekistan took over the chairmanship of the organisation from Tajikistan on September 17, 2021.
After the 2022 summit, the presidency of the SCO will be handed over to India for the next year till September 2023. New Delhi will most likely host the next SCO summit.
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