[fuser]

As an SCO member, India is expected to have a bigger say in pressing for concerted action in dealing with terrorism as well as on issues relating to security and defence in the region.

Capping a two-year-long process, India and Pakistan on Friday became full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a China-dominated security grouping that is increasingly seen as a counterweight to NATO.

India’s membership was strongly pushed by Russia while Pakistan’s entry into the grouping was backed by China. With the expansion of the grouping, the SCO will now represent over 40 per cent of humanity and nearly 20 per cent of the global GDP.

As an SCO member, India is expected to have a bigger say in pressing for concerted action in dealing with terrorism as well as on issues relating to security and defence in the region.

“India and Pakistan are now members of the SCO. It is a very important moment for us,” Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is the current chair of the SCO, said, making the announcement at the summit of the grouping here.

India, one of the largest energy consuming countries in the world, is also likely to get greater access to major gas and oil exploration projects in Central Asia, as many of the SCO countries have huge reserves of oil and natural gas.

The SCO had set the ball rolling to make India a member of the bloc during its summit in Ufa, Russia, in July, 2015, when administrative hurdles were cleared to grant membership to India and Pakistan.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the Presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

India, Iran and Pakistan were admitted as observers at the 2005 Astana Summit. The Tashkent SCO summit in June 2010 lifted the moratorium on new membership, paving the way for the expansion of the grouping.

India feels that as an SCO member, it will be able to play a major role in addressing the threat of terrorism in the region.

India is also keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.

India has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.

So its finally done, India an Pakistan both finally and officially are full members of SCO now.

This group is really becoming weirder with member states having far more contradictory interests than common ones and I am still not sure why this thing exists and what exactly it envisions for itself in future.

PS : I don't take the line of argument seriously where SCO is suddenly a counterpart to NATO, its not.

[SolarCross]

India + Pakistan + China all in one security block? Seems like a pretty combustible mix but then NATO has some of that sort of thing too: Greece and Turkey.. Maybe some reconciliation will come of it or at least put a lid on bubbling hostilities.

[Oxymandias]

@SolarCross

I don't know what you're talking about. From what I've seen, Turkey and Greece get along fine.

[SolarCross]

@SolarCross

I don't know what you're talking about. From what I've seen, Turkey and Greece get along fine.

Google Cyprus. It's basically Kashmir for Greece and Turkey. They had a bit of a war over it.

Military operations during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus

To this day Greece has a relatively gargantuan military budget for an EU country and a poor one at that and all of that military gear is pointed at Turkey.

[Oxymandias]

@SolarCross

Do you mean missiles and nukes? You can't really "point" all military gear at a country and if Greece were to invade Turkey I think they would fail. Greece wouldn't be able to beat Turkey in their own homeland. It may seem off topic however your comment that showed that Greece has a higher military budget than Turkey is also off topic.

Also what do you mean by "a poor one at that"? Do you mean that Greece has a poor military or a poor budget? Do you mean that Greece itself is poor?

But look at this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_di ... ewed_talks

In 2014, Turkey and Greece are reviving talks over Cyprus and are willing to find a solution. This solution already exists of course which is partition, which is supported by a majority of the population, in fact the population is so comfortable with the status quo, that instead of focusing on reunification they should begin to start formalizing the secession plan.

[hartmut]

So its finally done, India an Pakistan both finally and officially are full members of SCO now.

This group is really becoming weirder with member states having far more contradictory interests than common ones and I am still not sure why this thing exists and what exactly it envisions for itself in future.

PS : I don't take the line of argument seriously where SCO is suddenly a counterpart to NATO, its not.

Thank you for that very interesting big spot. I didn't even know that there is a SCO (see wiki), and it had passed me without any attention.
What would I like to understand. How much time did the bargains need?
I mean that is a very young organisation (SCO), with a very remarkable speed of spreading.

[Stormsmith]

PS : I don't take the line of argument seriously where SCO is suddenly a counterpart to NATO, its not.

I'm also interested in learning more about SCO.

[SolarCross]

@SolarCross

Do you mean missiles and nukes? You can't really "point" all military gear at a country and if Greece were to invade Turkey I think they would fail. Greece wouldn't be able to beat Turkey in their own homeland. It may seem off topic however your comment that showed that Greece has a higher military budget than Turkey is also off topic.

Also what do you mean by "a poor one at that"? Do you mean that Greece has a poor military or a poor budget? Do you mean that Greece itself is poor?

But look at this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_di ... ewed_talks

In 2014, Turkey and Greece are reviving talks over Cyprus and are willing to find a solution. This solution already exists of course which is partition, which is supported by a majority of the population, in fact the population is so comfortable with the status quo, that instead of focusing on reunification they should begin to start formalizing the secession plan.

Oh I see, when you initially asked that question I thought you were unaware over the point of conflict between Turkey and Greece but it seems that you are aware of it and are just trying play down its significance for some undisclosed purpose. Ok well carry on then I am by no means interested in standing in the way of downplaying this friction between two Nato members, just pointing out that it is comparable to the SCO having both India and Pakistan together in one organisation despite (or perhaps because of) their own conflict of interests over Kashmir.

I don't have an agenda.

[Oxymandias]

@SolarCross

I don't know about it. I didn't even ask about it. If my tone sounds aggressive then I apologize. I think the reason for my aggressive tone is due to the lack of sentence breaks other than "and" so I end up having long sentences. Not only that but I write my posts in a sort of stream of consciousness manner so as I write I end up thinking of new ideas and questions as well as finding out more information on what you told me so I put them where contextually it makes the most sense. In fact I'm doing this right now.

The literal only thing I said was that there was peace talks right now and a solution that both the citizens of Cyprus and Greece and Turkey agree with. The only reason it seems like I know it is because I just found a wikipedia article on it from a two second google search. And this isn't to put you down or anything! This is the information age, we don't have to rely on books or something for information, anyone could look something up in an instant and seem like they understand everything about it when, in actuality, they or I don't.

I'm not downplaying it, I'm just saying that things are going well for them. This isn't the 1970s, this isn't WW1 and WW2. Turkey and Greece are done actively warring with one another both politically and militarily. All I did was point out that they have a very good solution. There's nothing wrong with that.

I understand that, and it was a good comparison!

[SolarCross]

I'm not downplaying it, I'm just saying that things are going well for them. This isn't the 1970s, this isn't WW1 and WW2. Turkey and Greece are done actively warring with one another both politically and militarily. All I did was point out that they have a very good solution. There's nothing wrong with that.

I understand that, and it was a good comparison!

Okay, well sure and for comparison Pakistan and India have their moments when they want to come together and talk shit out, but that doesn't mean they "get along just fine". Cyprus might be more or less settled for now, maybe much more so than Kashmir, but I wouldn't count on that lasting forever. Nato cockblocking has more to do with any "getting along fine" than anything else, and who knows how long that will last?

[Oxymandias]

@SolarCross

I know, I never said anything against that! It's almost as if you want Greece and Turkey to have bad relations! (I kid I kid)

Well if the people of Cyprus want secession chances are, even if one country completely took it over, it would still act as if it were two different countries. I agree NATO was a factor however I don't think it's the only reason why they have good diplomatic relations. If NATO was really the only reason why they're not at war, then they wouldn't even bother having any diplomacy outside of something very basic and Turkey (or Erdogan) would continue to pull whatever bullshit it wants the same way it does with other countries. However they didn't, they sat down and decided to engage in critical discussion. Both parties both expected a positive discussion and good benefits to be gained from them. This requires not just NATO but the effort of the two countries together.