In News:

• External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar participated in the meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers.

What’s in Today’s Article:

• Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) – About, observers, significance
• News Summary

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• 
• SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation, created in June 2001 in Shanghai (China).
• Founding members included Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• This organization represents approximately 42% of the world’s population, 22% of its land area and 20% of global GDP.

Observers

• Before 2021, SCO had four observer states. This included - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.
• In 2021, Iran became a full member and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar were added as new observer states. Hence, currently, SCO has 6 observer states namely:
  • Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Significance of SCO

News Summary

• External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar visited Tashkent (Capital of Uzbekistan) to take part in the meeting of SCO Council of Foreign Ministers.
• The meeting discussed the preparations for the forthcoming SCO Summit of Heads of State scheduled to be held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) on 15-16 September 2022.

Key highlights

• India’s stand at the meeting
  • India welcomed the expansion of the SCO to include Iran next year.
  • India pushed for Chabahar port to be a conduit for trade to central Asia. It underlined the potential of the port for the SCO's economic future.
    • Chabahar Port is a seaport located in south-eastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman.
    • This port provides India with better connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.
    • Recently, India and Uzbekistan have agreed to do a pilot container cargo shipment from Tashkent to India.
    • This shipment would use a hybrid land-sea route via Chabahar Port.
  • EAM highlighted India's assistance to Afghanistan at the meeting. The humanitarian support includes: wheat, medicines, vaccines and clothing.
  • At the meeting, India maintained that zero tolerance for terrorism in all its manifestations is a must.
• China’s support for the extension of CPEC into Afghanistan
  • Despite India’s reservations about involvement of third countries in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China reiterated its support for the extension of the same into Afghanistan.
• Taliban was representing Afghanistan (observer state) at the summit
  • Indian EAM did not have a bilateral meeting with Taliban acting foreign minister, unlike his Chinese and Pakistan counterparts.