Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

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Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental international organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001 by six countries: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its member states cover an area of over 30 million km2, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world's total. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.

SCO's predecessor, the Shanghai Five mechanism, originated and grew from the endeavor by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to strengthen confidence-building and disarmament in the border regions. In 1996 and 1997, their heads of state met in Shanghai and Moscow respectively and signed the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions and the Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions. There after, this annual meeting became a regular practice and has been held alternately in the five member states. The topics of the meeting gradually extended from building up trust in the border regions to mutually beneficial cooperation in the political, security, diplomatic, economic, trade and other areas among the five states. The President of Uzbekistan was invited to the 2000 Dushanbe Summit as a guest of the host state. As the first meeting of the five heads of state took place in Shanghai, the cooperation mechanism was later known as the "Shanghai Five".

On the fifth anniversary of the Shanghai Five in June 2001, the heads of state of its members and the President of Uzbekistan met in Shanghai, the birthplace of the mechanism. First they signed a joint declaration admitting Uzbekistan as member of the Shanghai Five mechanism and then jointly issued the Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The document announced that for the purpose of upgrading the level of cooperation to more effectively seize opportunities and deal with new challenges and threats, the six states had decided to establish a Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the basis of the Shanghai Five mechanism.

In June 2002, the heads of SCO member states met in St. Petersburg and signed the SCO Charter, which clearly expounded the SCO purposes and principles, organizational structure, form of operation, cooperation, orientation and external relations, marking the actual establishment of this new organization in the sense of international law.

Iran appears increasingly interested in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and form a powerful axis with its twin pillars, China and Russia, as a counterweight to a US power "unchained". The SCO was initially set up as an open and nonaligned organization and it was not initially targeted at a third party. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will not take in new members before its six members make serious studies. The organization is still very young and the six SCO members need to have further discussions before deciding whether or not to accept new members, Li said 01 June 2004. Mongolia's demand to participate in the organization as an 'observer' was approved at the June 2004 summit. Guidelines on the status of observer nations were approved and it was decided to award Mongolia this new status.

On 17 June 2004, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization held its annual Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Attending this conference was Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev, Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov. Much of the pre-summit media attention included what Russian President Putin and Chinese President Hu hoped would facilitate the development of economic relations between the SCO countries. This appeared to have been successful. At the conclusion of the summit, the leaders signed a document titled the Tashkent Declaration. The declaration summarized the outcome of the SCO's work since it was set up, evaluated the activities of the organization's agencies and set new goals. They also signed agreements on cooperation in fighting drug trafficking and on the protection of secret information in the framework of the SCO anti-terrorist agency, whose headquarters were opened in Tashkent.

Several meetings were conducted on the sidelines of the Summit. Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Afghanistan Transitional President Hamid Karzai, who was a guest of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, and they discussed Afghanistan’s attempts to locate and bring to justice the terrorists who attacked Chinese workers there. In other meetings, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev handed over to Hu Jintao a written document to confirm Kyrgyzstan's stance to recognize China' s full market economy status. Hu said the move by Kyrgyzstan will "greatly push forward China-Kyrgyzstan bilateral trade and economic cooperation." Hu made a four-point proposal in meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov on strengthening cooperation. Hu said the two sides should support each other on major issues, enhance law-enforcement cooperation to fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well improve economic relations and cultural exchanges. Rakhmonov said he agreed with Hu's proposals. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited China last month and the two sides signed a number of agreements to cement cooperation primarily in oil and natural gas as well as in other areas. Russia and Uzbekistan signed a strategic-partnership treaty, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Islam Karimov hailing it as a new stage in long-term relations.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ld/int/sco.htm

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Brief introduction to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation creation of which was proclaimed on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its prototype is the Shanghai Five mechanism.
The main goals of the SCO are strengthening mutual confidence and good-neighbourly relations among the member countries; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture as well as education, energy, transportation, tourism, environmental protection and other fields; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region, to move towards the establishment of a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order.
Proceeding from the Spirit of Shanghai the SCO pursues its internal policy based on the principles of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equal rights, consultations, respect for the diversity of cultures and aspiration towards common development, its external policy is conducted in accordance with the principles of non-alignment, non-targeting anyone and openness.
The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the highest decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once every year to take decisions and give instructions on all important issues of SCO activity. The Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once every year to discuss a strategy for multilateral cooperation and priority directions within the Organisation’s framework, to solve some important and pressing issues of cooperation in economic and other areas as well as to adopt the Organisation’s annual budget. Besides sessions of the HSC and the HGC there are also mechanisms of meetings on the level of Speakers of Parliament, Secretaries of Security Councils, Foreign Ministers, Ministers of Defence, Emergency Relief, Economy, Transportation, Culture, Education, Healthcare, Heads of Law Enforcement Agencies, Supreme Courts and Courts of Arbitration, Prosecutors General. The Council of National Coordinators of SCO Member States (CNC) is in charge of coordinating interaction within the SCO framework. The Organisation has two permanent bodies – the Secretariat in Beijing and the Regional Antiterrorist Structure in Tashkent. Secretary-General and Executive Committee Director are appointed by the HSC for a period of three years. From 01 January 2007 these posts are held by Bolat K.Nurgaliev (Kazakhstan) and Myrzakan U.Subanov (Kyrgyzstan) respectively.
The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30 million 189 thousand square kilometers, which makes up three fifths of the Eurasian continent, and have a population of 1.5 billion, which makes up a quarter of the planet’s population.

http://www.sectsco.org/html/00026.html

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History of development of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an international organisation composed of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People of Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The SCO was created on the basis of the Shanghai Five, which came into being after signing in 1996-97 the agreements among Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia and Tajikistan on building military confidence and mutual reduction of military forces in border areas.
In January 2001 Uzbekistan requested to join the Shanghai Five as a full member. The Five''''s transformation into the SCO happened at a summit in Shanghai on 15 June 2001 when the heads of six countries signed the Declaration on SCO establishment and the Shanghai Convention on combating terrorism, separatism and extremism. The newborn Organisation proclaimed "strengthening mutual trust, friendship and good-neighbourly relations among the member countries; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transportation, ecology and other fields; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region, to establish a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order" as its goals. The Council of National Coordinators was founded with the aim of establishing interaction among relevant ministries and departments of SCO member states.
On 14 September 2001 Almaty hosted the first meeting of heads of governments of SCO member states, who signed the Memorandum among the Governments of SCO Member States on Main Objectives and Directions of Regional Economic Cooperation. The prime ministers also announced the creation of a mechanism of regular meetings of heads of government within the SCO framework.
At a summit in Saint Petersburg on 07 July 2002 the heads of member states adopted the SCO Charter enshrining the goals, principles and main directions of cooperation within the Organisation. Besides the Charter the summit also signed the Agreement among SCO Member States on the Regional Antiterrorist Structure.
On 23 September 2003 Beijing hosted a meeting of heads of governments of SCO member states. They approved the Programme of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation among SCO Member States as well as adopted the Organisation''s first budget for 2004. The Programme clearly determined the main objectives and tasks of economic cooperation within the SCO framework, and set a direction for the free movement of goods, capital, services and technology inside the region during the next twenty-year period.
Besides the Heads of State Council and the Heads of Government Council the SCO also set up mechanisms of regular meetings on the level of speakers of parliament, national security councils, ministries of foreign affairs (MFA Council), ministers of defence, law enforcement agencies, ministers of economy, transportation, emergency relief, culture, education and healthcare, heads of border agencies, prosecutors general, supreme courts and courts of arbitration, national coordinators (CNC).
The headquarters of SCO Secretariat in Beijing and SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent opened in January 2004.
At a session in Tashkent in 2004 the Heads of State Council approved the Regulations on Observer Status at the SCO and granted such status to Mongolia. A summit of SCO leaders in Astana in 2005 admitted India, Pakistan and Iran as its new observers.
The launch of the SCO''''s permanent bodies was followed by the creation of a mechanism of permanent representatives of SCO member states to the Secretariat. At a summit in Astana in 2005 the heads of member states took a decision to establish a mechanism of permanent representatives of SCO member states to the RATS.
A summit in Shanghai in 2006 appointed Bolat K.Nurgaliev to the post of SCO Secretary-General and Myrzakan U.Subanov to the post SCO RATS Executive Committee Director. They assumed responsibilities on 01 January 2007.

http://www.sectsco.org/html/00035.html