Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDailu.com) -- Under the Chairmanship of India of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, India has launched a new website https://indiainsco.in. 

As is well known, India’s Chairmanship of SCO Council of Heads of State for the very first time commenced from September 2022 for a period of one year. Our Chairmanship will culminate with the SCO Summit to be chaired by  Prime Minister of India. 

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an eight-member multilateral organization, established on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

At the July 2005 Astana Summit, India was granted Observer status. In July 2015 in Ufa, Russia, the SCO decided to admit India as full member. India signed the memorandum of obligation in June 2016 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, thereby starting the formal process of joining the SCO as full member. On 9 June 2017, at the historic summit in Astana, India officially joined SCO as full- member. India has millennia-old civilizational, cultural and spiritual ties with the SCO region. 

From the Buddhist monks to spice traders, from adventurous explorers to Sufi saints, interaction between India and the SCO Member States has led to exchange of goods, fusion of ideas, introduction of new cuisines and art-forms. India’s membership of SCO in 2017, was therefore, a reaffirmation of India’s keenness to deepen its historic ties with the region.

India has maintained an active engagement with the organization since it became a full-fledged Member State. In 2020, India hosted for the first time, the meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government, the second-highest decision-making body of the organization. India has carved a niche for itself by emphasizing on three new pillars of cooperation in SCO – Startups & Innovation, Science & Technology and Traditional Medicine. India implemented  Prime Minister’s announcements made at the Bishkek Summit of the SCO Heads of State in 2019 that were aimed to bring into sharper focus our millennia-old shared civilizational heritage. 

They include: hosting the first-ever SCO Digital Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage by the National Museum, and the translation of 10 classics of Indian regional literature into Russian and Chinese languages. India organized the first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave, the first-ever Consortium of SCO Economic Think Tanks and the first-ever SCO Startup Forum (in virtual-format). In the B2B format, FICCI convened the SCO Business Conclave with special emphasis on Cooperation between MSMEs of SCO region through the national chapters of the SCO Business Council. 

With the successful conclusion of its Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2022, India hopes to further strengthen greater trade, economic and cultural cooperation within SCO by putting human beings at the center of SCO activities and to foster greater peace and prosperity in the region. A new chapter in India’s engagement with SCO begins in 2022, as India assumes the Chairmanship of the organization, after Uzbekistan. 

A number of substantive and impactful events await the members of the organization in 2022-23. The website https://indiainsco.in will serve as a useful information resource for activities of the organization under India’s Chairmanship.