SCO TOURISM MINISTERS’ MEET

20th March, 2023 International Relations

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Context: India put forward an action plan as a mark to 2023 being celebrated as the year of tourism development in the SCO tourism ministers’ conference held in Varanasi

Details:

Union Tourism Minister was the chair of the meet
The aim of the joint action plan includes the promotion of the following:
SCO tourism brand
The cultural heritage of member states
Sharing of information and digital technologies in tourism
Mutual cooperation in medical and health tourism.
Other joint activities such as the SCO tourism exhibition, SCO Food Festival, webinars and seminars etc would also be undertaken.
Action Plan for ‘Year of Tourism Development in the SCO Space in 2023’ was also adopted by the member states.
Varanasi is the first tourism and cultural capital of SCO.

About SCO:

It is 8 members multilateral organization
It was established on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its members

History:

The treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions led to the formation of the Shanghai Five group (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan) on 26 April 1996.
Uzbekistan was admitted in 2001.
In 2001 the Declaration of Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed.
India, Iran and Pakistan were granted Observer status in the 2005 summit which was held in Astana.
In the Ufa summit of 2015, it was decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members.
They officially joined SCO as full- members at the 2017 Astana Summit.

Structure:

Permanent Bodies include the SCO Secretariat in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent.
The Chairmanship of SCO is rotated amongst the Member States for one year.
The Council of Heads of States is the apex decision-making body in the SCO.
A meeting is held every year in any one of the member’s capital cities.
The Council of Heads of Governments is the second-highest body. Here members discuss issues of multilateral cooperation and approve the organization's budget.
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) serves to promote the cooperation of member states against terrorism, separatism and extremism. It is headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The Secretariat of the SCO is the primary executive body. It is located in Beijing. Functions are:
Implementation of the organizational decisions and decrees
Acts as a document depository for the organization
Arranges specific activities within the SCO framework
Promotion of information about the SCO.
The official working languages are Chinese and Russian.