Know About the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the 2019 Summit

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) 19th summit was in the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek on 13-14 June 2019. SCO is the intergovernmental permanent organization created in 1996. The founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. India and Pakistan officially joined this organization in 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and other leaders also attended the summit. The SCO summit will be the first major international event which will be attended by Narendra Modi after his re-election.

What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

SCO was founded in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2001. It is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization.

The main aim to establish SCO is to generate cooperation between member nations on:

– Resolving border issues & Security concerns

– Military Cooperation & Countering Terrorism

– Intelligence sharing & Economic Cooperation

–  Cultural Cooperation

SCO member countries and leaders are:

The members and the countries of the SCO are:-

• People’s Republic of China: Xi Jinping (President of China)
• Republic of India: Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India)
• Republic of Kazakhstan: Kassym-JomartTokayev (President of Kazakhstan)
• Kyrgyz Republic: SooronbayJeenbekov (President of Kyrgyzstan)
• Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Imran Khan (Prime Minister of Pakistan)
• Russian Federation: Vladimir Putin (President of Russia)
• Republic of Tajikistan: KokhirRasulzoda (President of Tajikistan)
• Republic of Uzbekistan: ShavkatMirziyoyev (President of Uzbekistan)

Know about SCO Summit 2019: Agenda

For SCO summit, a particular agenda is not set beforehand but below-mentioned issues can be discussed as per the sources.

• In the meeting review of the past years work of the grouping and will also draw a new plan for cooperation this year.
• Security and development are two major issues to be discussed mainly on how to counter terrorism.
• China-US trade war and the “specter” of emerging trade frictions between the US and India.
• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and counterterrorism-related issues.
• India will also increase cooperation between SCO and other multilateral organizations besides agreeing to focus on illegal drug trafficking, cooperation in information technology, environment, healthcare, and sports.
• Issues like multilateralism protectionism in the context of US trade tensions could also be discussed.

So, we can say that main issues that are to be focused on the global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and topical issues of international and regional importance.