Varanasi nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital at the 2022 SCO Summit

Source: The post is based on the article “Varanasi nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital at the 2022 SCO Summit” published in PIB on 16th September 2022.

What is the News?

The 22nd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO) Council of Heads of State was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The Samarkand Declaration was released after the summit.

After the summit, Uzbekistan handed over the rotating presidency of the SCO to India. India will host the next SCO summit as a chairman of the SCO in 2023.

What are the key highlights from the summit?

Decision on the Comprehensive Action Plan for 2023-2027 for implementation of provisions of the Treaty on Long-Term Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation among the Member States.

Inclusion of members and dialogue partners: Iran to become a member State of the SCO. Iran was admitted to the SCO in 2021 and will become full member in 2023.

– Launched the procedure of admitting Belarus as a member of the SCO.

– Granting Maldives, Bahrain, Myanmar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, the status of SCO dialogue partner.

Varanasi as SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital: The city of Varanasi has been nominated as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital during the period 2022-2023.

– This will promote tourism, and cultural and humanitarian exchanges between India and the SCO member Countries.

– Under the framework of this major cultural outreach program, a number of events will be hosted in Varanasi during 2022-23 for which guests will be invited to participate from the SCO Member States. 

– Notes: The regulations for the nomination of the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital were adopted at the Dushanbe SCO Summit in 2021 with the objective of promoting cooperation between the SCO Member States in the field of culture and tourism.