The Head of Departments of Member-States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, met on Thursday, April 20 in New Delhi. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations. Union Minister Amit Shah also held bilateral meetings on the sidelines with the Ministers of some of the SCO member-states.
During the meeting, delegates from the SCO Member States exchanged information about large-scale emergency events that happened in their countries and the actions they took to deal with them. The delegates also discussed novel practices, technology, and future potential for cooperation in the field of emergency prevention and elimination within the framework of the SCO.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah suggested identifying five major areas to further strengthen the approach of the SCO. The major areas include confidence-building efforts in Asia, collective responsibility approach, expanding cooperation in communication and information sharing, identification of priority areas, and use of newly developed technology in disaster resilience capacity building.
Based on these discussions, the SCO Member-States strengthened cooperation in the areas of preparedness and emergency response, as well as cooperatively mitigating the impact of natural and man-made disasters. The participants also examined and agreed on the action plan for the execution of the SCO Member States’ agreement on cooperation in emergency situation elimination in 2023-2025.
At the 2022 SCO Summit in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), India assumed the rotational chairmanship of the SCO. Since its full inclusion in the SCO in 2017, India has maintained active participation in the organisation, initiating ideas for the mutual benefit of SCO member-states, observers, and dialogue partners. As the current Chair, India will host the next Council of Heads of State Summit this year.
SCO, an intergovernmental organization established in 2001, comprises eight member states – India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Source: News On Air