• Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated virtually in the 21st Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

• The 21st meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State was held on September 17, 2021 in Dushanbe in hybrid format.

• The meeting was chaired by Emomali Rahmon, the President of Tajikistan.

• PM Modi addressed the Summit via video-link. At Dushanbe, India was represented by Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar.

• The SCO Summit was followed by an Outreach session on Afghanistan between SCO and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). PM Modi participated in the outreach session through a video-message.

• In the video message, Modi suggested that SCO could develop a code of conduct on ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorism in the region, and highlighted the risks of drugs, arms and human trafficking from Afghanistan. 

Some key points of Dushanbe Declaration:

• Members of the SCO reaffirmed to uphold and strengthen a transparent, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system and oppose unilateral protectionist measures that undermine and threaten the global economy.

• According to the Dushanbe Declaration, the Member States reaffirmed the importance of continuing to improve the architecture of global economic governance.

• The members will consistently uphold and strengthen an open, transparent, equitable, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system based on the principles and rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), promote an open global economy and oppose unilateral protectionist measures that undermine the multilateral trading system and threaten the global economy.

• The Member States also reaffirmed to further strengthen cooperation in trade, production, transport, energy, finance, investment, agriculture, customs, telecommunications, innovation and other areas of mutual interest.

• Countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reaffirmed their support for China's One Belt and Road Initiative (OBOR), also known as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and noted the ongoing work to jointly implement the project, including efforts to build a bridge between the Eurasian Economic Union and the OBOR.

• The Member States will continue consultations on the establishment of the SCO Development Bank and the SCO Development Fund (Special Account) in order to implement the common understanding reached at the highest level and ensure financial support for project activities.

What is the SCO?

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an intergovernmental organisation founded in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. It was founded by the presidents of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

• These countries, except for Uzbekistan, had been members of the Shanghai Five group, formed on April 26, 1996 with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions.

• The SCO Charter was signed during the St Petersburg heads of state meeting in June 2002 and entered into force on September 19, 2003. This is the fundamental statutory document which outlines the organisation’s goals and principles, as well as its structure and core activities.

• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation. 

Who are the members of SCO?

• The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four observer states interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia) and six dialogue partners (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

• India, Iran and Pakistan were admitted as observers at the 2005 summit. On June 9, 2017, at the historic summit in Astana, India and Pakistan officially joined the SCO as full-fledged members.

• The SCO has two permanent bodies — the SCO Secretariat in Beijing and Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent. 

• The chairmanship of the SCO is by rotation for a year by the Member States.

The SCO’s main goals are:

• Strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the Member States.

• Promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research, technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection and other areas.

• Making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

• Moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.

India and the SCO

• India was made an observer at the July 2005 Astana Summit and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

• India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

• India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

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