Table of Contents
SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital- Relevance for UPSC Exam
- GS Paper 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital in News
- Recently, Varanasi has been nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital during the period 2022-2023 at the 22nd Meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022.
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had participated in the SCO Summit 2022.
Varanasi as the First-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital
- Background: The regulations for nomination of the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital were adopted at the Dushanbe SCO Summit in 2021.
- Objective: SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital is adopted with an objective of promoting cooperation between the SCO Member States in the field of culture and tourism.
- Significance: The nomination of Varanasi as the first ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital will promote tourism, cultural and humanitarian exchanges between India and the SCO member Countries.
- It also underlines India’s ancient civilizational links with Member States of SCO, especially the Central Asian Republics.
- Key Events Planned: Under the framework of the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital outreach program, a number of events will be hosted in Varanasi during 2022-23 for which guests will be invited to participate from SCO Member States.
- These events are expected to attract Indologists, scholars, authors, musicians and artists, photo journalists, travel bloggers and other invited guests.
About Varanasi
- Varanasi is also known as Banaras or Kashi. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. \
- The city is known for Hindu mythology and history. Ancient temples like Kashi Vishwanath is located here.
- Gautam Buddha is believed to have given first sermon to his disciples in Varanasi (Sarnath)
- The city is linked with spiritualism, yoga, Hindu mythology, culture, and the Sanskrit language.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)- Key Points
- About SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization created through SCO Charter in 2002 and entered into force in 2003.
- Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
- Type: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization.
- SCO Secretariat: Shanghai, China.
- Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS): Tashkent
- Mandate: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) aims to maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)- Member States
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) comprises nine member states (recently, Iran has been accepted as the ninth full member) namely-
- The Republic of India,
- The Republic of Kazakhstan,
- The People’s Republic of China,
- The Kyrgyz Republic,
- The Islamic Republic of Pakistan,
- The Russian Federation,
- The Republic of Tajikistan, and
- The Republic of Uzbekistan
- Iran