Structure
The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the SCO. This council meets at the SCO summits, which are held each year in one of the member states' capital cities. The current Council of Heads of State consists of:
- Almazbek Atambayev (Kyrgyzstan)
- Hu Jintao (China)
- Islam Karimov (Uzbekistan)
- Nursultan Nazarbayev (Kazakhstan)
- Vladimir Putin (Russia)
- Emomalii Rahmon (Tajikistan)
The Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the organisation. This council also holds annual summits, at which time members discuss issues of multilateral cooperation. The council also approves the organisation's budget.
The council of Foreign Ministers also hold regular meetings, where they discuss the current international situation and the SCO's interaction with other international organisations.
As the name suggests, the Council of National Coordinators coordinates the multilateral cooperation of member states within the framework of the SCO's charter.
The Secretariat of the SCO is the primary executive body of the organisation. It serves to implement organisational decisions and decrees, drafts proposed documents (such as declarations and agendas), function as a document depository for the organisation, arranges specific activities within the SCO framework, and promotes and disseminates information about the SCO. It is located in Beijing. The current SCO Secretary-General is Muratbek Imanaliev of Kyrgyzstan, a former Kyrgyz Minister of Foreign Affairs and professor at the American University of Central Asia.
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism. The Head of RATS is elected to a three-year term. Each member state also sends a permanent representative to RATS.
Read more about this topic: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)