Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ( UPSC Prelims)

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News Context

25th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025 Highlights
  ● Location and Date: Held in Tianjin, China.  
  ● Key Outcomes:  
        ○ Adoption of the Tianjin Declaration and the SCO Development Strategy extending to 2035.
    ● Chairmanship Transition: Passed to the Kyrgyz Republic for 2025–26.  
    ● Status Consolidation: Observer and dialogue partner categories unified into a single SCO partner countries status.  
    ● New Admission: Laos joined as a partner, expanding the SCO to 10 members and 17 partner countries.  
      ● India's Role: Became an observer in 2005 and achieved full membership in 2017.  
  ● SCO and CIS Relations:  
        ○ SCO received Observer status in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which includes former Soviet republics, excluding the Baltic States.
    ● CIS Members: Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.  

Key Outcomes of the Summit

Security & Counter-Terrorism:
      ○ Agreement to create an SCO Anti-Drug Centre and a Universal Center for Countering Security Threats.
 Global Governance & Trade:
      ○ Support for China’s Global Governance Initiative (GGI).
      ○ Progress towards establishing an SCO Export Credit and Investment Mechanism and an SCO Development Bank to provide non-dollar financing for Eurasian infrastructure.
 Technological Cooperation:
      ○ Authorization for SCO members to utilize China’s BeiDou navigation system (BDS).
 Other Key Outcomes:
      ○ Acknowledgment of India’s vision of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.”
      ○ India suggested a Civilisation Dialogue Forum to enhance cultural exchange and soft power.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

 ● Origin:  
        ○ Developed from the "Shanghai Five" framework in 1996.
        ○ Formally founded at the Shanghai Summit in 2001 by Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
  ● Primary Goals:  
        ○ Enhance mutual trust, friendship, and good neighborliness among Member States.
        ○ Collaborate to ensure and uphold peace, security, and stability in the region.
        ○ Advocate for a new democratic, fair, and rational international political and economic order.
  ● Membership (10 members):  
        ○ Includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran (2023), and Belarus (2024).
        ○ Comprises 3 observer states and 6 dialogue partners.
  ● Organizational Structure:  
    ● Council of Heads of States: The top decision-making authority.  
    ● Council of Heads of Governments: The second-highest governing body.  
        ○ Two permanent entities: the Secretariat in Beijing (China) and the RATS in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
  ● Additional Information:  
        ○ Granted observer status by the UN General Assembly.