22nd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads

About SCO Summit, 2023:

• It will be held in the virtual format.
• All the SCO Member States, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been invited to attend the Summit.
• Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States.
• The theme of the Summit is ‘Towards a SECURE SCO’. The SECURE acronym stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity and Environment.
• India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its Chairmanship - Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Inclusion, Youth Empowerment and Shared Buddhist Heritage.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:

• The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.
• The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
• SCO has two Permanent Bodies - (i) SCO Secretariat in Beijing (ii) Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent.
• The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure serves to promote cooperation of member states against terrorism, separatism and extremism.
• The official working languages: Chinese and Russian.