Organisations
SAARC
• Secretariat: Kathmandu, Nepal
• Official languages: English
• Establishment: December 8, 1985
• SAARC Secretariat was established in Kathmandu on 16 January 1987
• Members: (8) Afghanistan , Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
ASEAN
• Secretariat: Jakarta, Indonesia
• Official languages: English
• Secretary-General: Surin Pitsuwan
Establishment
• Bangkok Declaration: 8 August 1967
• Charter signed on: 16 December 2008
• Members: (10) Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore , Thailand, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
OIC
• Secretariat: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Official languages: Arabic, English, French
• Establishment: September 25, 1969
• Secretary-General : Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (Turkish)
• Members: 57 member states
• It changed its name from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference on 28 June 2011 and renamed as Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
ECO
• Secretariat: Tehran, Iran
• Official languages: English
• Establishment: 1985
• successor organisation of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1964, which ended activities in 1979.
• Secretary-General: Yahya Maroofi (Afghani)
• Members: 10 member states Iran, Pakistan, Turkey Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
SCO
• Secretariat: Beijing, China
• Official languages: Chinese and Russian
• Establishment: 2001
• Secretary-General: Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliyev
• Members: (6 Members) China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
• successor organization Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organisation.
• Observers: (4 )Pakistan, India, Iran and Mongolia
• Dialogue Partner: Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey
• Guests: ASEAN, CIS and Turkmenistan
NOBEL PRIZES FOR 2011
Nobel peace prize 2011
1) Winners are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakul Karman of Yemen for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.
Nobel Literature prize 2011
Tomas Tranströmer for condensed translucent images which give us fresh access to reality.
Nobel Economics prize 2011
Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.
Nobel Physiology or Medicine prize 2011
Bruce Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann and Ralph M. Steinman for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.
Nobel Chemistry prize 2011
Dan Shechtman for the discovery of quasicrystals.
Nobel Physics prize 2011
Saul Perlmutter, Adam G. Riess & Brian P. Schmidt for his contributions to the discovery of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.