Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: All you need to know about it

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in Russia on three-day visit to attend annual BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summits. At the SCO Summit, India is expected to be accorded full membership of the six-nation grouping of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Here are some important facts need to know about SCO

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.

• It was created on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai by the Republic of Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

• Before 2001, SCO was known as Sanghai Five. It was renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation after inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001.

• It was created with an aim to strengthen mutual confidence and good-neighbourly relations among the member countries.

• Currently India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mongolia and Iran has the status of observer in SCO while Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey hold the status of dialogue partners.

• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the highest decision-making body in the SCO. It meets annually to take decisions and give instructions on all important issues of SCO activity.

• SCO has two permanent bodies - the Secretariat in Beijing and the Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure in Tashkent.

• SCO Secretary-General and RCTS Executive Committee Director are appointed by the HSC for a period of three years.

• The official working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are Chinese and Russian.

• The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30 million 189 thousand square kilometers, which makes up three fifths of the Eurasian continent.

• Member nations have a population of 1.5 billion, which makes up a quarter of the planet's population.