Context:
India chaired the 23rd SCO Heads of State Council Meeting via video conference.
Summit Highlights:
- Admitting Iran as a member state. [Agreed at SCO summit in Dushanbe (2021)]
- Signed New Delhi Declaration to counter activities of terrorist, separatist and extremist groups.
- India abstained from signing in support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- Declared 2024 as the SCO Year of Environment.
- Unlocked Statement on Cooperation in Digital Transformation.
Initiatives under India’s chairmanship (2022-23):
- Established 5 new pillars of cooperation: Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Youth Empowerment, Digital Inclusion, and Shared Buddhist Heritage
- Varanasi – 1st tourism and Cultural capital of SCO.
- Events such as SCO Millet Food Festival, Film Festival, International Conference on Shared Buddhist Heritage etc.
- Theme of India’s chairmanship – “Towards a SECURE SCO” (Acronym coined by the Indian PM at the 2018 SCO Qingadao Summit)
- S: Security, E: Economic development, C: Connectivity, U: Unity, R: Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, E: Environmental protection.
About SCO:
- HQ – Beijing
- A permanent intergovernmental political, economic, and military organization founded in Shanghai in 2001.
- Genesis – Shanghai Five (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan) – 1996
- Current Members – China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
- India: Full member of the SCO at Astana Summit (2017)
- Chairmanship – Rotation for a year by Member States
- Official Languages – Russian and Chinese
- Structure –
- SCO Secretariat (Beijing)
- Heads of State Council (Supreme SCO body)
- Heads of Government Council
- Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) (Tashkent)
Consider the following:
- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
- Missile Technology Control Regime
- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
India is a member of which of the above?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2022 Prelims]
- 1 and 2 only
- 3 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
Source: The Hindu