Context: 

Pakistan recently hosted the 23rd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG). 

More on the News

• The 23rd Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) was held on 15 and 16 October 2024, in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Pakistan.

• Previously, the 19th Meeting of the SCO CHG was hosted and chaired by India in the virtual format in 2020. This was the first time that a Summit-level Meeting was held under India’s Chairmanship. 
• Kyrgyzstan hosted the 22nd meeting of the Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. 

• External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India at the meeting. His visit to Islamabad is solely for attending the multilateral SCO Summit, not to address bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.

• The SCO CHG is the second-highest body in the grouping. Its meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the Organization.

• In the CHG meetings, India has been represented at the level of External Affairs Minister or Defence Minister. 

• The supreme decision-making body of the SCO is the Council of Heads of States (CHS) and is usually attended by Presidents and Prime Ministers. It meets once a year and decides upon all the important issues of the Organization. 

• The 23rd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) held in the virtual format in 2023, was India’s first-ever Chairmanship.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• SCO is an inter-governmental organization, the creation of which was announced in Shanghai, China in 2001.
• Founding members of SCO include the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• In June 2017, India and Pakistan were inducted as full members of the SCO in Astana, Kazakhstan. This was the first-ever expansion of the organisation since its formation in 2001.
• Iran joined SCO in 2023, bringing the total number of member states to nine. In July 2024, Belarus became the 10th member state of the SCO. 
• The official languages of the SCO are Chinese and Russian. 
• The city of Varanasi was nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital during the period 2022-2023. 

SCO has two Permanent Bodies:

• SCO Secretariat in Beijing, China
• Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS)

• The Agreement on the establishment of the RATS designated as a permanent body of the SCO was signed during a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO in 2002, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• SCO RATS coordinate in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism at the regional and global levels.

The Goals of the SCO are:

• To strengthen mutual trust, friendship and good-neighbourliness between the Member States.
• To encourage effective cooperation between the Member States in such spheres as politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc.
• To jointly ensure and maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
• To promote a new democratic, fair and rational international political and economic international order.