SCO Tourism Ministers’ conference held in Wuhan, China

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Tourism Ministers’ conference was held in Wuhan, China. It was first meeting of SCO tourism ministers since the organization was established in 2001 in Shanghai. From India Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism K. J. Alphons attended the conference.

Key Facts

The meeting approved joint action plan that will serve as guideline for tourism cooperation between SCO member states for 2019-2020. It specifies cooperation among national tourism administrations, as well as measures member states could take to improve tourist experience and safety, develop tourist products and promote smart tourism. It

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

SCO is political and security grouping headquartered in Beijing. It was founded in 2001. The full members of organization are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan. They represent over 40% of humanity and nearly 20% of the global GDP. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia have observer status at present.
SCO is successor of grouping called Shanghai Five, founded by China in 1996. It comprised Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In 2001 Uzbekistan was invited to join it and SCO was officially born.  After Astana Summit Declaration in 2005, SCO has emerged as a regional security organization
SCO’s main objective is military cooperation between the members. It also works towards intelligence-sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia. It is primarily centred on its member nations’ Central Asian security-related concerns, often describing main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. The role of China as well as strategic importance of SCO has increased over period of decade and now address problems like terrorism, separatism and militancy in the region.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2018