The Republic of Belarus officially became the 10th permanent member of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defence organization.
Background:
i.Belarus became a dialogue partner in the SCO in 2010 and an observer state in 2015. Following the SCO CHS meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 16 September 2022, a document was signed to launch the process of Belarus’ accession to the organization as a full-fledged member
ii.During the 24th SCO Council of Heads of State (SCO-CHS) Summit held in Astana, Kazakhstan on 4th July 2024, the leaders of SCO member countries signed a resolution of the SCO CHS and finalised the admission of Belarus and conferred the full member status.
iii.The other permanent member of SCO are: China, Russia, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Note:
- On 4th July 2023, India hosted the 23rd SCO-CHS summit in a virtual format. During the summit, Iran became the 9th member of SCO.
- Kazakhstan took over the chairmanship of SCO from India in July 2023.
- Following the 2024 summit, China assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO for 2024-2025. Qingdao will be appointed the SCO’s tourism and cultural capital for 2024-2025.
About 24th SCO-CHS:
i.The Republic of Kazakhstan, the 2024 Chair of the SCO, hosted the 24th SCO-CHS Summit in Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan from 3rd to 4th July, 2024.
- Theme: “Strengthening Multilateral Dialogue- Striving for Sustainable Peace and Development”.
- This marks the 4th SCO Summit hosted by Kazakhstan. Earlier, Kazakhstan hosted the summit in 2005, 2011 and 2017.
SCO Summit Highlights:
i.The summit adopted the Astana Declaration and approved 25 strategic documents covering energy, security, trade, finance, and information security.
ii.SCO member states endorsed the Initiative On World Unity for a Just Peace, Harmony and Development, initially proposed by Kazakhstan.
iii.The members also adopted the SCO Development Strategy until 2035, outlining collective contributions in light of Belarus gaining membership status
iv.During the summit, SCO Secretariat and the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Center signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat illicit drug trafficking.
Key Participants:
i.Union Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) represented India at the summit.
ii.Alexender Lukashenko, President of Belarus; Vladimir Putin, President of Russia; Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan; Xi Jinping, President of China; Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan; Emomali Rahmon,President of Tajikistan and Sadyr Zhaparov, President of Kyrgyzstan participated in the summit.
iii.Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye and Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan; António Guterres, the Secretary-General(SG) of United Nations (UN) also attended the SCO summit.
About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO:
SCO was established on 15th June, 2001 by 6 founding member: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia.
Secretary-General- Zhang Ming
Headquarters- Beijing, China
About the Republic of Belarus:
Capital- Minsk
President- Alexender Lukashenko
