Amit Shah chairs SCO meet on prevention, elimination of emergency situation

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a meeting of the head of departments of member-states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in New Delhi dealing with the prevention and elimination of emergency situations.

SCO, an inter-governmental organisation established in 2001, comprises eight member states – India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Since its accession as a full-fledged Member State in 2017, India has maintained an active engagement with the organisation. India is focusing on initiating proposals for the mutual benefit of the SCO member states, observers and dialogue partners.

During the meeting, delegates from SCO member states shared information relating to large-scale emergency situations, which occurred in their respective territories and the measures taken to handle them.

The delegates also shared their views on the innovative practices, technologies, and future prospects for cooperation in the field of prevention and elimination of emergency situations within the framework of the SCO.

Based on these deliberations, the member-states enhanced cooperation in the field of preparedness, and emergency response and jointly mitigate the impact arising out of natural and man-made disasters within the framework of the SCO.

Participants also discussed and approved the action plan for the implementation of the agreement between the SCO member-states on cooperation in providing assistance in the elimination of emergency situations in 2023-2025.

The action plan contributes to stepping up cooperation in dealing with the prevention and elimination of emergency situations among SCO member-states.

India assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO at the 2022 SCO Summit held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). As the current chair, India will host the next Summit of the Council of Heads of State this year.

India became a full member of SCO on June 9 in 2017. There are four observer states viz Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia and six dialogue partners – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.