Why in the news?
India hosted the 23rd meeting of the Councils of Heads of the State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), themed ‘Towards a SECURE SCO'
What were the outcomes of the meeting?
1. Leaders of the SCO member-states signed the New Delhi Declaration
a. The aim of the declaration is to "fight against terrorism".
b. Four other joint statements were issued considering Central Asia as the SCO's "core region", which includes,
i. De-radicalisation
ii. Sustainable lifestyle to tackle climate change
iii. Production of millets
iv. Digital transformation
2. Fostered efforts on countering radicalisation and cooperation in digital transformation.
3. Iran was given full SCO membership after being an Observer member in the past.
4. Belarus was given memorandum of obligations to join the SCO
5. Adoption of an Economic Development Strategy.
6. India enshrined five pillars of cooperation:
a. Start-ups and Innovation
b. Digital inclusion
c. Empowering youth
d. Traditional medicine
e. Shared Buddhist heritage
About SCO:
SCO is a regional political, economic and military organization founded in Shanghai in the year 2001 from the earlier 'Shanghai Five' founded in 1996 primarily to demilitarize the borders between China and the former USSR.
● In 2017, India & Pakistan joined as member states at the historic summit at Astana.
● Headquarters: Beijing, China.
● SCO Member States: India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.
Organizational structure:
1. Heads of State Council (HSC)
a. Supreme decision-making body of the SCO.
b. Meets once in a year
2. Heads of Government Council (HGC)
a. Meets once in a year
b. Discusses issues on multilateral cooperation, priority and strategic areas and important economic issues.
c. Approves the annual budget of the SCO.
3. Two permanent bodies under the organization,
a. SCO Secretariat, Beijing
· Primary executive body of the organization.
· Important mandate is to implement the decisions and decrees of the organization.
b. Executive committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Tashkent
· Serves to enhance the cooperation of member states against terrorism, Separatism and Extremism.
SCO - Opportunities to India:
1. Connectivity to Central Asia and Eurasia
a. The bottlenecks in the connectivity project includes,
● Afghanistan's volatile nature accompanied by terrorism safe-havens.
● Pakistan's refusal to allow connectivity projects via its territory, for instance the TAPI Pipeline project has been stalled since 2006 due to Pakistan's hindrances, but at the same time has facilitated China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) → China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to pass through PoK region violating India's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
b. India's Connectivity project efforts in the region includes,
● Chabahar port in the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan.
● The 7,200 km long International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) between Russia, Iran and India.
● India became a member of the Ashgabat Agreement in 2018, a multimodal transport agreement between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, India, Pakistan, and Oman to facilitate transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
a. North–South Transport Corridor: The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road.
b. Eurasian Railway Connectivity
c. Chabahar-Afghanistan
2. SCO serves as a platform to sensitize its members against Pakistan's act of State-sponsored terrorism as China, Russia and Central Asian Republics (CARs) also resonate with the threat of terrorism.
3. India can take up the SCO region's common challenge of the illicit drug trade emanating from the Afg-Pak region through the "Golden crescent" consisting of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Challenges faced by India:
1. The theme "Towards a SECURE SCO", is led by an acronym SECURE that highlights the pressing regional challenges faced by the SCO.
● S - Security of citizens
● E – Economic development for all
● C – Connecting the region
● U – Uniting the people
● R – Respect for sovereignty and integrity
● E - Environmental protection
2. Differences between India and Pakistan with regard to regional connectivity
3. Getting closer of Russia and China
○ Apprehension of the formation of a new equation Russia-China-Pakistan triangular convergence will pose a challenge to India.
4. Counterterrorism efforts have not borne any fruit.
○ No visible efforts or actions have been taken to seriously address the issue of terrorism in the region.
