SCO Summit 2026 (International Relations)
SCO Summit 2026 (International Relations)
Why In News:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the SCO Council of Heads of State Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Bishkek Summit 2026
The 2026 Bishkek Summit is expected to address regional security, Afghanistan, West Asian conflicts, the Ukraine conflict and broader Eurasian developments.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
The SCO is a Eurasian intergovernmental organisation focusing on regional security, political cooperation and economic and cultural cooperation.
It was established in 2001 in Shanghai, evolving from the Shanghai Five mechanism created in 1996.
The original Shanghai Five comprised China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
India and Pakistan became full members in 2017 at the Astana Summit.
Iran became a full member in 2023, followed by Belarus in 2024, taking the organisation's membership to 10.
Dialogue Partners: The SCO also has a Dialogue Partner category for countries engaging with the organisation without full membership. Currently there are 17 dialogue partners.
Chairmanship: The SCO chairmanship rotates annually among member states.
Shanghai Convention, 2001: Provides an important legal foundation for SCO cooperation against terrorism, separatism and extremism.
Organisation and Institutions
The Council of Heads of State is the highest decision-making body of the SCO and meets annually.
The SCO Secretariat, responsible for coordinating the organisation's activities, is located in Beijing, China.
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and focuses on cooperation against terrorism, separatism and extremism.
The SCO's official and working languages are Chinese and Russian.
The organisation functions through consensus-based decision-making and is not a collective-defence alliance like NATO.