SCO TOURISM MINISTERS’ MEET

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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.

Observer States:

• Afghanistan
• Belarus
• Iran
• Mongolia

Dialogue Partners:

• Sri Lanka
• Turkey

MUST READ: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/sco-summit-an-analysis

PRACTICE QUESTION Q) Which of the following statements is/are correct with reference to Shanghai Cooperation Organization? a. The Council of Heads of Governments is the highest body. b. The official working languages are Chinese and Russian. Only a Only b Both a and b Neither a nor b Answer: Option 2

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/sco-tourism-ministers-conference-varanasi-8504842/