What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)?

About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO):

• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai,China.
• It is the world’s largest regional organization by geography and population, covering about 80 percent of the Eurasian landmass and 40 percent of the world population. 
• Objective: Promoting cooperation and peace among its member states, as well as fostering “a new democratic, fair, and rational international political and economic order.
• Founding Members: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• The organization expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017 and Iran in 2023, bringing the total to nine member states. 
• The SCO also includes 3 observer states—Mongolia, Belarus and Afghanistan.
• Following the integration of Iran, the SCO now controls 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 44 percent of its natural gas.
• Organizational Structure:
  • The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making bodyin the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
  • The organisation has two permanent bodies:
  • The SCO Secretariat based in Beijing.
  • The Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
  • RATS serves to promote the cooperation of member states against terrorism, separatism, and extremism.
• The official languages of the SCO are Chinese and Russian.