Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

WHY IN NEWS?

External Affairs Minister recently represented India at SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) foreign minister meet, held through video conferencing.

ABOUR SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION (SCO)

• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
• SCO comprises eight member states - India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
• SCO counts four observer states - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.
• 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.
• It aims at strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states, promoting their effective cooperation in various areas from politics to culture.making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region, creating rational new international political and economic order.