The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was set up on the basis of the Agreement on Military Confidence-Building Measures in Border Regions and the Agreement on the Mutual Reduction of Armed Forces in Border Regions signed between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan on the one hand, and China on the other hand in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
The Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO was signed at the meeting of the six heads of sate in Shanghai, China, on June 15, 2001. During the St Petersburg summit on June 7, 2002, they adopted the SCO Charter, which came into force on September 19, 2003. The Charter is the basic statutory document sealing the goals, principles, structure and guidelines of the SCO operation.
The Treaty of Long-Term Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, signed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 16, 2007, was a major step towards strengthening the legal foundation of the organisation. It created conditions for advancing the sides' multilateral cooperation to a fundamentally new level. As of now, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan have ratified the treaty.
The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the highest SCO authority. It formulates its priority objectives and the guidelines for its operation, tackles key issues of its structure and operation, interaction with other states and international organisations, as well as considers acute international problems.
The Heads of Government Council (HGC) adopts the SCO budget and considers and decides basic cooperation questions, in particular economic ones.
The Council of Foreign Ministers is responsible for preparations for Heads of State Council meetings, and takes decisions on holding consultations on international issues.
The Conference of the Heads of Ministries and Departments tackles cooperation issues in the sphere of their competence. There are coordination mechanisms involving ministers responsible for foreign economic operation and foreign trade, transport, education, culture, defence, and emergencies.
The structure of the SCO also includes the Commission of Senior Officials and working expert groups.
General prosecutors, heads of drug enforcement agencies, customs services, and supreme and arbitration courts meet regularly. In 2006, Moscow hosted the first meeting of parliament speakers of the SCO member countries.
The Council of National Coordinators of SCO Member States (CNC) coordinates the current activities of the SCO and interaction between their member states' ministries and departments.
Russia's national coordinator is Ambassador at Large Leonid Moiseyev, special representative of the Russian President for the SCO.
The SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent agency coordinating cooperation between the relevant agencies of the SCO member states in accordance with the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism signed on June 15, 2001, and other relevant agreements and documents signed within the SCO. The RATS structure comprises the RATS Council and the RATS Executive Committee.
Meetings of the Security Council secretaries of the SCO member states is an effective coordinating and consultative agency focused on security cooperation within the SCO and tackling new challenges and threats.
Permanent administrative bodies of the SCO operating since January 2004 include:
- The Secretariat in Beijing, China, is headed by the SCO Secretary General, the chief executive of the SCO appointed by decision of the Heads of State Council for three years on a rotation basis. Bolat Nurgaliyev (Kazakhstan) has held the office since January 1, 2007.
- The Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is headed by Director appointed by decision of the Heads of State Council for three years on a rotation basis. Myrzakan Subanov (Kyrgyzstan) has held the office since January 1, 2007.
Decisions of the SCO agencies are taken by consensus of the member states.
There are permanent representative offices of the SCO member states at the SCO Secretariat and the RATS Executive Committee.
The SCO observer states include Mongolia (since 2004), India, Iran and Pakistan (since 2005). Their involvement is governed by the Provisions of the SCO Observer Status (2004) and by the Procedures for Interactions between the SCO and Observers (2006). Regulations governing interactions between the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and states and international intergovernmental organisations (forums) as SCO observers were adopted in 2008.
SCO provisions governing the dialogue partner status were approved at the SCO summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on August 28, 2008. Sri Lanka and Belarus have submitted their requests for participation.
In accordance with the existing procedure, the rotating SCO chairmanship is held for one year as of completion of a summit of the SCO heads of state and through the next summit of the heads of state held in the presiding SCO state. Russia took the rotating chair on August 28, 2008 and ceded it to Uzbekistan on June 16, 2009.
The meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on June 15-16, 2009 concluded Russia's presidency of the organisation. The Yekaterinburg Declaration and the Joint Communiqué approved at the summit spotlight the coordinated positions of the member states on a broad range of international and regional problems, including the ongoing global financial and economic crisis.
The SCO states also signed the SCO Convention Against Terrorism, which stipulates the coordination of the member states' efforts and improvement of the mechanism of combating terrorism (such as training of anti-terrorism professionals, the drafting of legislation, etc.). They also adopted provisions of political and diplomatic measures and response mechanisms to situations imperilling the peace, security and stability in the region. Its objective is to improve the mechanism of consultations, and to coordinate positions and interaction of the member states in international affairs.
The participants in the Yekaterinburg summit also decided to grant the SCO dialogue partner status to Belarus and Sri Lanka.