Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Iran and Belarus are likely to be the two newest additions to the China and Russia-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping.

Key Highlights:

• Iran will become a full member after completing the formalities while Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states who follow the system of consensus in deciding admission of new members will take a call on Belarus’s application.
• This is the first expansion of the SCO after India and Pakistan were admitted to the grouping in 2017.
• China and Russia are looking to frame the grouping as a counter to the West — particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• The addition of Iran and Belarus can be seen as a move to change SCO into a counter for the US led alliance especially NATO.

Note: The expansion of NATO is totally different as the SCO is a cooperative organization based on non-alignment and not targeting a third party, while NATO is based on Cold War thinking.

Significance:

• The significance of this expansion is that it reflects the growing international influence of the SCO.
• It also shows that the principles of the SCO Charter are being widely accepted.

India and SCO Summit:

• India will host the SCO summit 2023 next year and Varanasi has been selected as the SCO region’s first “Tourism and Cultural Capital”, a title it will hold next year coinciding with India chairing the SCO grouping.

About SCO Summit 2022:

• The Samarkand Summit of SCO is scheduled to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from September 15-16 2022.
• The current SCO Secretary-General is General Zhang Ming, a veteran Chinese diplomat.
• Expanding the group is among the issues that leaders of the grouping are likely to discuss at the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September.
• Samarkand summit is expected to have agreements on connectivity and high-efficiency transport corridors and a roadmap for local currency settlement among member states.

Background:

• Iran was granted membership following the Dushanbe summit of 2021, and Belarus has also started the application process.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO):

• SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization.
• It is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization.
• Its main aim is to maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
• It is a successor organization to Shanghai Five, which was a mutual security agreement signed by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
• On 2001 these countries and Uzbekistan announced the formation of a new collective aimed at increasing the political and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
• The SCO Charter was signed in 2002 and came into force in 2003.
• India and Pakistan joined the organization in 2017.

Chairmanship of SCO:

• The Chairmanship of SCO is based on the basis of rotation for a year by the Member States.

India’s association with SCO:

• India was made an observer state in 2005 and generally participated in the Inter-ministerial meetings of the SCO grouping.
• India along with Pakistan was upgraded to the member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2017.