Tajikistan Presidency in the SCO in 2020-2021
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (hereinafter the SCO or the Organization) was founded on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai, China at the Meeting of the Heads of Six Founder States, Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The last summit of the Organization’ prototype- Shanghai Five - held on 2 July 2000 in Dushanbe declared about the transformation of this mechanism into a regional entity of multilateral cooperation in various areas.
The SCO is an intergovernmental international organization with a solid legal framework. The SCO Charter endorsed in 2002 is the Organization’s statutory document.
The SCO summits in 2004, 2008 and 2014 endorsed documents governing the accession of other states and international organizations as dialogue partners, observers and member states of the Organization.
The SCO currently comprises:
- Eight Member States – China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan;
- Four Observer States – Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia;
- Six Dialogue Partners –Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
The Organization’s structure comprises the following entities:
- Council of Heads of State;
- Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers);
- Council of Foreign Ministers;
- Meetings of heads of ministries and/or departments, including regular meetings of Security Council Secretaries, Prosecutor Generals and Heads of Supreme Courts;
- Council of National Coordinators.
The Organization has two permanently operative bodies – the SCO Secretariat located in Beijing and the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) headquartered in Tashkent.
The SCO Council of Heads of State elects the SCO Secretary-General and the SCO RATS Executive Committee Director to a three-year term.
The SCO decisions are based on consensus.
The SCO official working languages are Russian and Chinese.
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