Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was established in 2001.
Before forming SCO, there was Shanghai Five formed on 26 April 1996 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
In June 2001, the leaders of these five nations and Uzbekistan met in Shanghai and decided to form a new organization naming SCO with expanding new member states for deeper political and economic cooperation as a Eurasian political, economic and international security body.
Initially, SCO consists of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as founder member- states along with 2 observers’ states from Eurasia.
In June 2017, India and Pakistan joined the SCO reaching eight states in the organization. Later, Iran joined the group in July 2023 and Belarus in July 2024.
With 10 states as full members, the SCO considers as the world’s largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, covering at least 24% of the world’s total area (65% of Eurasia) and 42% of the world population,
Mongolia and Afghanistan are the observer status countries whereas Sri Lanka, Turkey, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Armenia, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Laos are the Dialogue Partners.
According to the Wikipedia report, Turkey, Vietnam, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Myanmar are likely to join the SCO as these countries have shown interest and positivity towards the SCO activities.
SCO’s headquarters is in Beijing, China.
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international intergovernmental organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
Established on 1 January 1995 created by Uruguay Round negotiations (1986-94), pursuant to the 1994 Marrakesh Agreement, it succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which was created in 1948, WTO regulates and facilitates international trade and use trade as a means to improve people’s living standards, create better jobs and promote sustainable development.
The headquarters located in Geneva, Switzerland, WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
The WTO has 166 members, accounting for 98% of world trade. All members have joined the system as a result of negotiation and therefore membership means a balance of rights and obligations. Over 20 countries are negotiating to join the organization.
The observer governments are Algeria, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Curacao, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Holy See, Iran, Iraq, Lebanese Republic, Libya, Sao Tomé and Principe, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkmenistan Uzbekistan.
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 191 member countries. It does so by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation, which are essential to increase productivity, job creation, and economic well-being. The IMF is governed by and accountable to its member countries.
The IMF was conceived in July 1944 at the United Nations Bretton Woods Conference. The 44 countries in attendance sought to build a framework for international economic cooperation and avoid repeating the competitive currency devaluations that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The Board of Governors, the highest decision-making body of the IMF, consists of one governor and one alternate governor for each member country. The governor is appointed by the member country and is usually the minister of finance or the governor of the central bank. All powers of the IMF are vested in the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors may delegate to the Executive Board all except certain reserved powers. The Board of Governors normally meets once a year.
The US, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom are the most contributors to the IMF. Besides, every member country contributes based on their size and economic position.
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