Syllabus section: Current Events of International Importance/ Polity & IR

 

Why in News?

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, and Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of the government in 2020 have launched the first ever SCO Online Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage. The Online International Exhibition was launched during the 19th Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (SCO CHG), which was held on November 30, 2020.

Online International Exhibition

• The SCO online International exhibition has been developed and curated by National Museum, New Delhi.

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries also collaborated in the development of the exhibition.

• This exhibition displays the state of the art technologies including 3D scanning, webGL platform, innovative curation, virtual space utilization and narration methodology.

Significance of the Exhibition

• This online exhibition is significance in the light that, Buddhist philosophy and art of Central Asia connects each of the members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with each other.

• This international exhibition further presents an excellent opportunity to the visitors to access, appreciate and compare the Buddhist art antiquities from SCO countries on a single platform.

• This transnational online exhibition also has potential to connect, heal and rejuvenate communities in the COVID-19 situation.

• The international exhibition showcase the artistic wealth displayed at various museums across Asia.

• It represents the artistic excellence within historical timeline across the development of different Schools of Buddhism.

What is SCO?

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental international organization formed in 2001 in Shanghai, China.

• Currently, the SCO comprises 8 member states, namely India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.[India and Pakistan were inducted into SCO in 2017.]

• The 4 observer countries are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.

• The 6 dialogue partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey, and Sri Lanka.

• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization.

• The SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.

 

Source: PIB