Tashkent, 17 August 2022 (TDI): The Federal Minister of Commerce of Pakistan, Syed Naveed Qamar, attended and spoke at the Trade Ministers meeting at Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The news was shared by the Minister via a tweet on Tuesday.
Speaking at sco trade ministers meeting in Tashkent . SCO is 20% of world Gdp pic.twitter.com/evAeD6J8Rm
— Syed Naveed Qamar (@naveedqamarmna) August 16, 2022
Before this, the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers also held a meeting at the end of July. Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, participated in that meeting leading the Pakistan delegation.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCO
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic, and security organization. It is the world’s largest regional organization. It covers approximately 60% of the area of Eurasia, 40% of the world’s population, and almost 30% of global GDP.
The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, a mutual security agreement formed in 1996 between 5 countries. Those five states were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
In June 2001, the leaders of these nations and Uzbekistan met in Shanghai to announce a new organization, the SCO. It was created with deeper political and economic cooperation.
The current members of SCO include India, Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Additionally, Iran is a member of the SCO, which joined in September 2021. The SCO also has numerous observer states and dialogue partners.
Also read: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister welcomes SCO-RATS Director
Meetings of SCO
The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the SCO. This council meets at the SCO summits each year in one of the member states’ capital cities.
The Prime Ministers of the parliamentary democracies of India and Pakistan attend the SCO Council of Heads of State summits. It is because their responsibilities are similar to the Presidents of other SCO nations.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the organization. This council also holds annual summits, at which time members discuss issues of multilateral cooperation.
The Council of Foreign Ministers also holds regular meetings. They discuss the current international situation and the SCO’s interaction with other international organizations.
