22nd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads

Table of Contents☰

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.

Q1) What is the work of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure?

The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against terrorism, separatism and extremism. Each member state also sends a permanent representative to RATS.

Source: PM Modi to chair SCO Summit virtually on July 4.