Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Bishkek Declaration

Why in news?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO's) Heads of State summit was recently held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

What is SCO?

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation formed in 2001 in Shanghai, China.
• Currently, the SCO comprises 8 member states, namely India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• [India and Pakistan were inducted into SCO in 2017.]
• The 4 observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.
• The 6 dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.
• It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
• The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year –
  1. to discuss on the organisation's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas
  2. to resolve current important economic and other cooperation issues
  3. to approve the organisation's annual budget
• The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
• The deliberations of SCO are divided into two portions –
  1. restricted format which is meant for the members
  2. expanded format in which observers also join the members
• The next summit is to be held in Russia.

What are the key outcomes?

• The Bishkek Declaration was finalised in the summit.
• Member countries signed 14 decisions at the summit, including cooperation in sports, healthcare and environment.
• The anti-narcotic strategy and the programme of action was amongst one of the documents signed.
• Discussions regarding terrorism, regional cooperation, Afghanistan, and economic issues were carried out during the summit.
• SCO urged the global community to work towards a consensus on adopting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).
• It also emphasised the need to launch multilateral talks, at the Conference on Disarmament, on an international convention to combat acts of chemical and biological terrorism.
• SCO called for the international community’s joint efforts to counter attempts to involve young people in terrorism, separatism and extremist activities.
• The members committed to counter the use of information and communications technology to undermine political, economic and public security in the SCO countries.
• Opportunities for economic cooperation had a special focus, and SCO countries committed to strengthening economic cooperation.
• Countries also committed to supporting the World Trade Organisation structure.
• Also, building more people-to-people ties, tourism and cultural bonds within the grouping was stressed upon.
• On the sidelines of the summit, some cooperation agreements between SCO and UN-specialised agencies were also signed.

• Afghanistan - On Afghanistan, the Bishkek declaration stressed on an inclusive peace process led by “Afghans themselves”.

• India reiterated its long-held stand towards the peace process in Afghanistan.
• It held the view that Afghanistan should be led, owned, and controlled by Kabul.
• Indian PM Modi also touched upon the topics of connectivity, especially the north-south corridor, Chabahar port and renewable energy.
• He also introduced the acronym HEALTH (during the SCO session) which denotes –
  1. Healthcare Cooperation
  2. Economic Cooperation
  3. Alternate Energy
  4. Literature and Culture
  5. Terrorism-free society
  6. Humanitarian Cooperation
• India-Pakistan - Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan failed to hold substantive talks at the summit.
• Nevertheless, the occasion provided a setting for them to exchange what India called the “usual pleasantries” at the least.
• Beyond the summit, the two countries are committed to engaging at several other levels, including the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.
• Pakistan leads the effort to coordinate between the SCO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Besides these, India opposed to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
• The summit declaration has mentioned only the other countries in a paragraph praising the project.
• On the sidelines of the summit, Mr. Modi held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

How significant is SCO to India?

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is becoming vital to India’s Eurasia policy.
• SCO is also a platform for alignments on issues such as energy security, connectivity and trade.
• Besides, India has been indicating, for some time now, the little use for SAARC.
• So, the SCO provides the only multilateral platform for it to deal in close proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Going ahead, India’s strategy of balancing the competing interests of SCO and other such multilateral groupings will be tested.

Source: Firstpost, The Hindu

Quick Facts

Bishkek

• Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan (known from 1862–1926 as Pishpek/Bishkek, and from 1926–91 as Frunze).
• It lies in the Chu River valley near the Kyrgyz Mountains at an elevation of 2,500–3,000 feet (750–900 metres).
• Bishkek is situated along the Alaarcha and Alamedin rivers and intersects in the north with the Bolshoy (Great) Chuysky Canal.
• It’s a gateway to the Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountains and Ala Archa National Park, with glaciers and wildlife trails.