• SCO is the world''s largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, covering over 60% area of Eurasia and 40% of the world’s population.
• The combined GDP of SCO is around 20% of global GDP.
• The SCO provides a platform for India to enhance economic cooperation with the Central Asian countries, who owns vast reserves of natural resources and to counter-terrorism through the RATS mechanism, which even other organisations has failed to provide.
• SCO allows India to be part of an alternative economic structure in the world, especially as sanctions on Russia and Iran make it difficult for normal trade.
• With the withering influence of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as the regional block of Asia, the SCO will help provide its members including India to have a greater economic and security cooperation among others.  

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• The SCO is a nine-member Eurasian multilateral organization that aims for mutual cooperation, prevent confrontation and conflict, and maintain security in changing geopolitical scales.
• The SCO has mainly focused on regional security issues, the fight against regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism.
• The SCO is a political, economic, international security and defence organization established by China and Russia in 2001.
• The SCO was established in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• These countries, except for Uzbekistan, were members of the Shanghai Five group (1996), who together has signed the Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions.
• The other countries were added consecutively beginning from Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan with Iran being the latest member.
• The SCO Charter extended the organization’s purposes, principles, structures, and forms of operation, and established it in international law.
• The Organisation has two permanent bodies- the Secretariat in Beijing (China) and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

India’s Role in SCO

• India was given an observer status to SCO in 2005.
• India has gained full membership at the Asthana Summit of 2017 along with Pakistan.
• Since its inception as a full member, India has supported strengthening the core agenda of SCO on terrorism and radicalism and reinforced commitment to regional connectivity, stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty.
• India has steadfastly used its diplomatic capital to campaign for strengthening cooperation and used the SCO platform to collaborate with regional counterparts.
• In 2018, India coined the acronym SECURE to highlight the pressing regional challenges faced by the SCO.
• S- security of citizens
• E- economic development for all
• C- connecting the region
• U- uniting the people
• R- respect for sovereignty and integrity
• E- environmental protection
• India has successfully hosted the 23rd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO.
• Leaders of member-states signed the New Delhi Declaration against terrorism and four other joint statements on de-radicalization, sustainable lifestyle (to tackle climate change), production of millets and digital transformation.
• The summit granted Iran full SCO membership, and members have signed the memorandum of obligations of Belarus to join as a member-state.
• It adopted SCO’s economic development strategy for the period until 2030.
• These significant outcomes have demonstrated the vitality of the SCO members.

The changing Geopolitical scenario

• The world is grappling with geopolitical tensions, an economic slowdown, energy crises, food shortage and climate change.
• These challenges require the joint response of all countries.
• The major risks to world peace and development are power politics, economic coercion, technology decoupling and ideological contest.
• The dilemmas like unity or split; peace or conflict; cooperation or confrontation need to be answered by the international community.
• The SCO is moving towards a community with a shared future for mankind, firmly supporting each other in upholding their core interests and synergizing their national development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives.
• Member-states have carried forward the spirit of good neighborliness and friendship, and built partnerships featuring dialogue instead of confrontation, and cooperation instead of alliance.
• These achievements manifest the common aspirations of all countries so that there is peace, development and win-win cooperation.
• The SCO’s leading and exemplary role can help strengthen unity and cooperation, seize development opportunities, and address risks and challenges.

How to strengthen SCO?

• Areas of reinforcement include:
• Strategic communication
• Deepen practical cooperation
• Support each other’s development and rejuvenation
• Enhance solidarity and mutual trust for common security
• The changes in external elements like the new Cold war and bloc confrontation must be addressed with high vigilance and firm rejection.
• There is a need to upgrade security cooperation, decisive approach to terrorism, separatism and extremism, and transnational organized crimes.
• The SCO should cooperate in digital, biological and outer space security, and facilitate political settlement on international and regional hot-spot issues.
• It should address protectionism, unilateral sanctions, and decoupling that undermine people’s well-being all over the world.
• It is imperative for the SCO to generate stronger momentum for collaboration in trade, investment, technology, climate actions, infrastructure and people-to-people engagement.
• SCO should contribute to the high-quality and resilient economic growth of the region, collective efforts to scale up local currency settlement amongst SCO members.
• Economy: expand cooperation on sovereign digital currency, and promote the establishment of an SCO development bank.

Need for multilateralism

• To engage more with its observer states, dialogue partners, and other regional and international organisations like the United Nations (UN)
• To uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law
• To promote world peace, common security, drive global development, and safeguard the international order
• To act as a progressive force for world fairness and justice
• To voice loud and clear against hegemony, unilateralism, a Cold War mentality, and bloc confrontation
• To reject illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction measures
• To lead by example in safeguarding the development rights and legitimate interests of the developing world
• To counter security challenges in conventional and non-conventional domains in a holistic manner

China’s stand on SCO

• China is committed to working with India, South Africa and other partners from the South to put into action the Global Security Initiative, Global Development Initiative and Global Civilization Initiative.
• It would contribute to world peace, security, and prosperity.
• It would engage in dialogue and diplomacy to address international disputes by peaceful means.
• There is a need to forge a united, equal, balanced and inclusive global development partnership, promote values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom.
• The evolution of global governance to a fairer and more reasonable direction.

The SCO’s success story is part of the broader global partnership of emerging economies and developing countries. As changes in the global landscape unfold, collective rise with greater cohesion and global weight is to be aimed. SCO should advocate multilateralism to shape the common destiny for its members. It would play a role to shape the multi-polar world order, promote inclusive global development, and improve international governance architecture. We need to pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, respect each country’s independent choices and abide by the purpose and principles of the UN Charter.