AMN/ WEB DESK
Veteran Chinese diplomat, Zhang Ming, has taken over as the new secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on 1st January. Zhang, 65, took over the reins of Beijing based SCO from Vladimir Norov, a former diplomat from Uzbekistan who completed his term on 31st December. Before joining SCO, Zhang served for four years as the head of the Chinese mission to the European Union.
Responding to a question, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said that according to SCO rules and as approved by the Council of Heads of States of the SCO, Zhang Ming has assumed the role of the SG of the SCO for a term of three years from January 1 this year.
The SCO comprises eight member states: India, Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It also comprises four countries with “observer” status and six more as “dialogue partners”. India joined SCO at the Astana summit in 2017.
2022 will be an important year for India at SCO as, for the first time, it will assume the presidency of SCO, after Uzbekistan, for the period 2022-2023 which will culminate with the SCO Summit to be hosted by the Indian side in 2023. The SCO Summit is the meeting of the Council of Heads of States (HOS) and along with the Council of Heads of Government (HOG) makes two most important dialogue mechanisms among SCO member states.