On 23 February we had Andrey Kirillov as our speaker, on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
This time we had a dinner in the Four Seasons Hotel, instead of the usual lunch in Kempinski Hotel. I was once more acting Sergeant-at-Arms…

(Thanks Celine for the pics!)

He explained the SCO, its history and structure. It is a Eurasian political, economic and military organization which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. These countries, except for Uzbekistan had been members of the Shanghai Five, established in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, members renamed the organization. In July 2015, the SCO decided to admit India and Pakistan as full members, and they are expected to join by 2016. The SCO is primarily centered on its member nations’ security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. A Framework Agreement to enhance economic cooperation was signed by SCO member states in 2003. In 2009, China announced plans to provide a US$10 billion loan to SCO member states to shore up the struggling economies of its members amid the global financial crisis.
I invited Andrey to join my “Old China Hands Lunch” as he is a China veteran.