23rd Summit Of The SCO
Source : The Hindu
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate
Overview
Why in News ?
On July 4th, India successfully hosted the 23rd SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) Summit though virtually. India was holding the SCO Chair this year along with that of the G20.
News in Brief
- Despite some internal issues, all the leaders of the nine members, including new member Iran, who accepted the invitation and participated, addressed regional issues of security, counterterrorism in all its manifestations, and new and old challenges like trade and connectivity.
- It also included leaders of Belarus -next member and Turkmenistan-only Central Asian country out of SCO.
- Kazakhstan is the next Chair.
About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO)
- It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
- Founded in June 2001.
- It was built on the ‘Shanghai Five’, the grouping which consisted of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
- They came together in the post-Soviet era in 1996, in order to work on regional security, reduction of border troops and terrorism.
- Members
- China
- India
- Iran
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan.
- India acquired the observer status in the grouping in 2005 and was admitted as a full member in 2017.
23rd Summit Of The SCO Details
- One of the many decisions made at the summit was the decision to admit Iran as the alliance’s ninth and most recent member.
- Agreements
- The New Delhi Declaration, defining SCO nations’ areas of cooperation
- Joint declaration on preventing radicalization
- Statement on digital transformation, where India pledged to contribute knowledge on electronic payment systems like UPI.
- Members of the SCO also decided to look into alternatives to international dollar-based payments, such as the usage of national currencies for intragroup transactions.
- The Member States reaffirmed that certain nations’ unilateral and unrestricted expansion of their global missile defence systems has a detrimental effect on global security and stability.
- The Member States stated their desire to increase collaboration in the areas of sport, culture, health, disaster preparedness, tourism, and people-to-people interactions.
- Members of the SCO also decided to look into alternatives to international dollar-based payments, such as the usage of “national currencies” for intragroup transactions.
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