The 12th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Prime Minister’s Meeting will take place from November 28-29, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Discussions on increasing cooperation among the member states in their anti-terrorism efforts are expected to be on the agenda. An agreement resulting in opening road transportation between Asia and Europe is also expected to be signed. If signed, the agreement would lay out the framework for an Asia-Europe transport corridor between Lianyungang in east China and St. Petersburg in north-west Russia.
The SCO is a six-country multilateral body focused on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region. The precursor of the SCO was the ‘Shanghai Five,’ constituted by China, in 1996, to address border security issues with four of its neighbours. The SCO in its present form was founded in by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at the Summit in Shanghai, in 2001.
India, Iran and Pakistan became Observer Members of the Organization at the 2005 Astana Summit. Subsequently, Mongolia was also inducted as an Observer, while Sri Lanka and Belarus became ‘Dialogue Partners.’