Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (上海合作组织), known as SCO, is a Eurasian political, economic, international security and defense organization established on June 15, 2001, and headquartered in Beijing, China, claiming to promote mutual security, political, and economic cooperation among member states. The organization emerged from the Shanghai Five mechanism formed in 1996 between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, with Uzbekistan joining at establishment and subsequent expansion to include India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in July 2023, and Belarus in July 2024. According to organizational documents, the SCO positions itself as the world’s largest regional organization by geographic scope and population, covering approximately 24 percent of the world’s total area and 42 percent of the world population, with combined nominal GDP accounting for around 23 percent of the global total as of 2024. Members of the organization include: China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.