The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO's) Heads of State summit was recently held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
What is SCO?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation formed in 2001 in Shanghai, China.
Currently, the SCO comprises 8 member states, namely India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
[India and Pakistan were inducted into SCO in 2017.]
The 4 observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.
The 6 dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.
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.
The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year –
to discuss on the organisation's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas
to resolve current important economic and other cooperation issues
to approve the organisation's annual budget
The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
The deliberations of SCO are divided into two portions –
restricted format which is meant for the members
expanded format in which observers also join the members
The next summit is to be held in Russia.
What are the key outcomes?
The Bishkek Declaration was finalised in the summit.
Member countries signed 14 decisions at the summit, including cooperation in sports, healthcare and environment.
The anti-narcotic strategy and the programme of action was amongst one of the documents signed.
Discussions regarding terrorism, regional cooperation, Afghanistan, and economic issues were carried out during the summit.
SCO urged the global community to work towards a consensus on adopting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
It also emphasised the need to launch multilateral talks, at the Conference on Disarmament, on an international convention to combat acts of chemical and biological terrorism.
SCO called for the international community’s joint efforts to counter attempts to involve young people in terrorism, separatism and extremist activities.
The members committed to counter the use of information and communications technology to undermine political, economic and public security in the SCO countries.
Opportunities for economic cooperation had a special focus, and SCO countries committed to strengthening economic cooperation.
Countries also committed to supporting the World Trade Organisation structure.
Also, building more people-to-people ties, tourism and cultural bonds within the grouping was stressed upon.
On the sidelines of the summit, some cooperation agreements between SCO and UN-specialised agencies were also signed.
Afghanistan - On Afghanistan, the Bishkek declaration stressed on an inclusive peace process led by “Afghans themselves”.
India reiterated its long-held stand towards the peace process in Afghanistan.
It held the view that Afghanistan should be led, owned, and controlled by Kabul.
Indian PM Modi also touched upon the topics of connectivity, especially the north-south corridor, Chabahar port and renewable energy.
He also introduced the acronym HEALTH (during the SCO session) which denotes –
Healthcare Cooperation
Economic Cooperation
Alternate Energy
Literature and Culture
Terrorism-free society
Humanitarian Cooperation
India-Pakistan - Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan failed to hold substantive talks at the summit.
Nevertheless, the occasion provided a setting for them to exchange what India called the “usual pleasantries” at the least.
Beyond the summit, the two countries are committed to engaging at several other levels, including the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.
Pakistan leads the effort to coordinate between the SCO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Besides these, India opposed to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The summit declaration has mentioned only the other countries in a paragraph praising the project.
On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Modi held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
How significant is SCO to India?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is becoming vital to India’s Eurasia policy.
SCO is also a platform for alignments on issues such as energy security, connectivity and trade.
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.
Source: Firstpost, The Hindu
Quick Facts
Bishkek
Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan (known from 1862–1926 as Pishpek/Bishkek, and from 1926–91 as Frunze).
It lies in the Chu River valley near the Kyrgyz Mountains at an elevation of 2,500–3,000 feet (750–900 metres).
Bishkek is situated along the Alaarcha and Alamedin rivers and intersects in the north with the Bolshoy (Great) Chuysky Canal.
It’s a gateway to the Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountains and Ala Archa National Park, with glaciers and wildlife trails.
