Mint Primer | SCO Summit: What’s in it for New Delhi?
Mint examines this question and more. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was formed in 2001. It evolved from an earlier avatar known as the Shanghai Five, comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the birth of 15 independent nations in Central Asia that were concerned about religious extremism and ethnic tensions. The Shanghai Five was formed in 1996 to mainly manage cooperation on these matters. In 2001, with the addition of Uzbekistan, the Five became the SCO and broadened the scope of cooperation to include trade, connectivity, tourism, etc.
India joined the SCO in 2017 along with Pakistan. India’s interest stemmed from its belief in a multipolar world. India has long sought access to Central Asia given its natural resources but its efforts were blocked by decades of tension with Pakistan.
“The permanent membership of the SCO will offer India with some unique opportunities to get constructively engaged with Eurasia," says a 2017 government note. New Delhi had plans for a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India via Pakistan and Afghanistan but security worries derailed them. SCO was also seen as a platform to push Pakistan to act against terror.
India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are full members. This year Belarus was admitted as a full member. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers.
Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Türkiye and the UAE have dialogue partner status. One of the reasons India joined the SCO was Russia’s primary role in it and its emergence as a ‘non -West’ platform. The Ukraine war and China
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