Nepal Becomes Shanghai Cooperation Organization Dialogue Partner

Nepal Becomes Shanghai Cooperation Organization Dialogue Partner
Nepal is the latest Asian state to become a dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
On Tuesday, Nepal joined Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka as one of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) so-called “Dialogue Partners.” Nepali Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing dialogue partner status for Kathmandu with the SCO’s secretary-general, Rashid Olimov, in Beijing. Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, who is currently one a week-long state visit to China, attended the signing ceremony.

The SCO coordinates among its members of issues of economic and political significance in Eurasia, and has over the years developed competency in counter-terrorism and military collaboration as well. Though some commentary has suggested that the organization is something like an eastern counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it is not a collective security organization. Founded in 1996, the organization was originally envisaged as a means to increase connectivity and dialogue between Russia, three former Soviet satellite states, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and China. The SCO today has relations with other major supranational organizations, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the European Union (EU), and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)