SCO Summit

What’s in News?

Recently, 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

News Summary:

(i) Comprehensive Action Plan for 2023-2027:

• The Comprehensive Action Plan for 2023-2027 for implementation of provisions of the Treaty on Long-Term Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation among the Member States.

(ii) Iran joins SCO:

• Iran has signed a Memorandum of Obligations to become a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
• Iran will now be able to take part in meetings, although it is likely to take some time to achieve full membership
• Currently, SCO has 6 observer states namely: Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar

(iii) Joint Statement on Climate Change:

• The members called for a "balance" between reducing carbon emissions and allowing poorer states to catch up with economically developed countries in a joint statement on climate change adopted.

(iv) Sports Cooperation:

• Russian President called for staging SCO’s own major sporting competition, he further reiterated that SCO could think about creating an association of sports organisations under SCO association

(v) Law Enforcement:

• China will train 2,000 law enforcement personnel over the next five years for member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

(vi) Varanasi nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital:

• The city of Varanasi has been nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital during the period 2022-2023
• It will promote tourism, cultural and humanitarian exchanges between India and the SCO member Countries.
• It also underlines India’s ancient civilizational links with Member States of SCO, especially the Central Asian Republics.
• The regulations for nomination of the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital were adopted at the Dushanbe SCO Summit in 2021 with an objective of promoting cooperation between the SCO Member States in the field of culture and tourism.

(vii) UNESCO Cooperation:

• In Order to increase the cooperation with UNESCO, member countries of SCO decided to sign an MoU between the Secretariat of the SCO and the UNESCO (2023-2027).

(viii) Traditional Medicines:

• In April 2022, WHO inaugurated its Global Centre for Traditional Medicines in Gujarat.
• This was the first & only global center by WHO for traditional treatment.
• India will take an initiative for a new SCO working group on traditional medicines

Summary of Prime Minister of India’s Speech:

(i) Transit Rights:

• India stressed that members of the grouping should give each other transit rights to help build better connectivity across the region.
• Lack of transit across Pakistan’s territory has been a challenge for India to access Central Asian markets, and India has flagged this concern several times in the past
• As per Iran, despite impressive potential, infrastructural connections in the field of transit between members of the SCO are “not so extensive”.

(ii) People Centric Development Model:

• India is focussing on people-centric development model.
• India is supporting innovation in every sector.
• Today, there are more than 70,000 start-ups and over 100 unicorns in India
• The SCO can think of creating new special working group on start-ups and innovation whereby India can share its expertise

(iii) Supply Chain Issues and food security:

• Covid-19 and Ukraine situation resulted in hurdles in global supply chain, resulting in food and energy security crisis
• So, SCO should try to create resilient supply chain in our region
• The possible solution for food security could be efforts to encourage the cultivation and consumption of millets, which is described as a “superfood” that has been grown in the SCO states and many other parts of world for long.
• UN will observe the International year of millets in 2023, and India said that SCO should discuss holding a “millet food festival”.

After the summit, Uzbekistan handed over the rotating presidency of the SCO to India

The next Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit that will be chaired by India in 2023.

SCO:

• The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017.
• Its member states account for almost 30% of the global GDP and 40% of the world’s population.
• The SCO Secretariat, based in Beijing, is the main permanent executive body of the SCO