With new members, SCO looks to counter West

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation established in 2001.
It’s a Eurasian political, economic and military organisation aiming to maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.
Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organisation in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
There are eight member states in the SCO at present. India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
The SCO Secretariat, based in Beijing, is the main permanent executive body of the SCO.
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. RATS serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

To strengthen mutual trust among the neighbouring member states.
To promote effective cooperation in various fields like economy, trade, politics, culture and research and technology.
To ensure peace, prosperity, security and stability in the region, and
To establish a democratic, fair and rational international eco-political order.

Iran and Belarus are likely to be the two newest additions to the China and Russia-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping.
China, Russia and four Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — were the founding members of the SCO, while India and Pakistan joined the grouping in 2017 in its first round of expansion. Last year’s summit in Dushanbe agreed for Iran to join, while Belarus has also begun the membership process.
China and Russia are looking to frame the grouping as a counter to the West — particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
India will host the SCO summit next year, and Varanasi has been selected as the SCO region’s first “Tourism and Cultural Capital”.

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