SCO Charter enters into force

The member states signed an agreement establishing the RATS framework to coordinate information and counterterrorism work. The agreement institutionalized security cooperation; its broad remit makes...

The summit paired the Charter with supporting agreements and declarations. This step changed the SCO from an annual leaders’ process into a more formal intergovernmental organization, though the...

The member states’ Moscow declaration argued that no country could address terrorism, narcotics and other cross-border challenges alone. The declaration strengthened cooperation while raising the...

The declaration supported cooperative international action rather than unilateral responses. Its language of multilateralism challenged claims that security policy should be set by a single dominant...

The summit continued to define the SCO as a regional coordination forum and emphasized political consultation among its members. The organization’s influence rested on consensus among governments...

At the Beijing meeting, heads of government adopted a long-term programme for multilateral economic cooperation. It named transport, trade and investment as fields for coordination and imagined a...

The trade and economic programme prioritized practical steps toward an enabling environment for trade and investment. It reveals the SCO’s aspiration to complement security cooperation with...

The Secretariat began work as the organization’s permanent administrative body. This gave the SCO continuity between annual summits and expanded its capacity to coordinate decisions, though it...

The permanent executive body of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure began operating in Tashkent. The institutional move made security coordination more continuous and placed a central SCO body in...

At the Tashkent summit, leaders addressed counterterrorism alongside trade, investment, transport and other cooperation areas. They described the SCO as an equal partnership and not a bloc. This...