The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states, of which 28 are in Europe and the other 2 in North America. Established in the aftermath of World War II on the insistence of the Truman administration, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed on 4 April 1949.
The 12 founding member countries of NATO are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Apart from the founding members, the Current NATO Members include: Albania (2009) , Lithuania (2004), Bulgaria (2004) Montenegro (2017), Croatia (2009), North Macedonia (2020), Czech Republic (1999), Poland (1999), Estonia (2004), Romania (2004), Germany (1955), Slovakia (2004), Greece (1952), Slovenia (2004), Hungary (1999), Spain (1982), Turkey (1952) and Latvia (2004).
NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. It was established during the Cold War in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance has remained in place since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
The NATO headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium. The organization’s motto is “animus in consulendo liber” (Latin for “A mind unfettered in deliberation”).
Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.
The combined military spending of all NATO members in 2020 constituted over 57 per cent of the global nominal total.
Present Secretary General of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg. The present Chairman of BATO military Committee is Lt. Admiral Rob Baue of Royal Netherlands Navy.
The Group of Seven (G7)
The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In addition, the European Union is a ‘non-enumerated member’. Its members are the world’s largest IMF advanced economies and wealthiest liberal democraciesthe group is officially organized around shared values of pluralism and representative government]
As of 2020, the collective group accounts for a little over 50 percent of global net wealth (which is $418 trillion), 32 to 46 percent of global gross domestic product, and about 770 million people or 10 percent of the world’s population.
Most members are great powers in global affairs and maintain mutually close political, economic, social, legal, environmental, military, religious, cultural, and diplomatic relations. Since the start of 2022, Germany has taken over the rotating presidency of the G7.
Group of 77
The Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations (UN) is a coalition of 134 developing countries, designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization headquartered in Geneva, but it has since expanded to 134 member countries according to the organization. Pakistan holds the chairmanship as of 2021.
The group was founded on 15 June 1964, by 77 non-aligned nations in the “Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries” issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The first major meeting was in Algiers in 1967, where the Charter of Algiers was adopted and the basis for permanent institutional structures was begun under the leadership of Raul Prebisch who had previously worked at ECLA. There are Chapters of the Group of 77 in Geneva (UN), Rome (FAO), Vienna (UNIDO), Paris (UNESCO), Nairobi (UNEP) and the Group of 24 in Washington, D.C. (International Monetary Fund and World Bank).
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, is an intergovernmental organization founded In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May 1971, following summits by Muslim heads of state and government in 1969 and by Muslim foreign ministers in 1970. The OIC has Institutions, which implement its programmes. Its Headquarters is in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It consists of 57 member states. The organisation states that it is “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.
The OIC members include Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Behrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Male, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Surinam, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, West Bank and Yemen.
The member states had a collective population of over 1.8 billion as of 2015, with 49 being Muslim-majority countries. This accounts for just under a quarter of the world’s population. The collective area is 31.66 m km square.
The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union that consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.The council’s main headquarters are located in the city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
The council’s main headquarters is in the city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution. The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani received took in his office at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani took his charge on 11 December 2019 at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh.
All current member states are monarchies, including three constitutional monarchies (Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain), two absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Oman), and one federal monarchy (the United Arab Emirates, which is composed of seven member states, each of which is an absolute monarchy with its own emir). There have been discussions regarding the future membership of Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen (Yemen being the only country of the Arabian Peninsula not yet a member of the GCC).
During the Arab Spring in 2011, Saudi Arabia raised a proposal to transform the GCC into a “Gulf Union” with tighter economic, political and military coordination, regarded as a move to counterbalance the Iranian influence in the region. The Peninsula Shield Force is the military arm of the GCC, formed in 1984.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand. Currently, there are 10 permanent members of this association. The headquarters of ASEAN is in Jakarta (Indonesia). The Association of Southeast Asian Nations,(ASEAN) is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration between its members and other countries in Asia.
ASEAN’s primary objective was to accelerate economic growth and through that social progress and cultural development.
A secondary objective was to promote regional peace and stability based on the rule of law and the principle of United Nations charter.
With some of the fastest growing economies in the world, ASEAN has broadened its objective beyond the economic and social spheres. In 2003, ASEAN moved along the path of the European Union by agreeing to establish an ASEAN community comprising three pillars: the ASEAN security community, the ASEAN economic community, and the ASEAN socio-cultural community. The ten stalks of rice in the ASEAN flag and insignia represent the ten South East Asian countries bound together in solidarity.
The ten member countries of ASEAN include Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar and the Philippines.
ASEAN also regularly engages other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. A major partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and dialogue partners and is considered by many as a global powerhouse.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), also known as the Shanghai Pact, is a transcontinental political, economic, security, and military alliance. In terms of geographic scope and population, it is the world’s largest regional organization, covering approx. 60% of the area of Eurasia, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of global GDP.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai on 15 June 2001. The SCO currently comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey). In 2021, the decision was made to start the accession process of Iran to the SCO as a full member, and Egypt, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia became dialogue partners. India and Pakistan joined on 9 June 2017. Iran started accession as a full member in September 2021 at the Dushanbe Summit (Tajikistan). Several countries are engaged as observers or partners.
The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, a mutual security agreement formed in 1996 between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. On 15 June 2001, the leaders of these nations and Uzbekistan met in Shanghai to announce a new organisation with deeper political and economic cooperation; the SCO Charter was signed on 7 July 2002 and entered into force on 19 September 2003.
Since its inception in 2001, the SCO has mainly focused on regional security issues, its fight against regional terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. To date, the SCO’s priorities also include regional development. The SCO has been an observer in the UN General Assembly since 2005. In April 2010, the UN and SCO Secretariats signed a Joint Declaration on Cooperation. SCO Secretariat has also established partnerships with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in addition to its ongoing cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT).
The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year. Military exercises are also regularly conducted among members to promote cooperation and coordination against terrorism and other external threats, and to maintain regional peace and stability.
Boao Forum for Asia
The founding of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) was driven by the People’s Republic of China and founded by 26 Asian and Australasian states on 27 February 2001. The organisation held its first meeting from 12 to 13 April 2002. The BFA initiated by 25 Asian countries and Australia (increased to 28 in 2006), is a non-profit organisation that hosts high-level forums for leaders from government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share their vision on the most pressing issues in this region and the world at large.
BFA is modelled on the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland. Its fixed address is in Bo’ao, Hainan province, China, although the Secretariat is based in Beijing. The forum, sometimes known as the “Asian Davos”, takes its name from the town of Boao, located in China’s southern Hainan province, which has been the permanent venue for its annual conference since 2002.
The Forum is committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries even closer to their development goals. Initiated in 1998 by Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Philippines, Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia, and Morihiro Hosokawa, former Prime Minister of Japan, the Boao Forum for Asia was formally inaugurated in February 2001. Discussions at the BFA focus on economics, integration, cooperation, society and the environment.
The Mekong–Ganga Cooperation (MGC)
The Mekong–Ganga Cooperation (MGC) was established on November 10, 2000, at Vientiane, Laos at the First MGC Ministerial Meeting. It comprises six member countries, namely India (Look-East connectivity projects), Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The four areas of cooperation are tourism, culture, education, and transportation. The organization takes its name from the Ganga andthe Mekong, two large rivers in the region.
The working mechanism for MGC consists of the Annual Ministerial Meeting (back to back with ASEAN Ministerial Meeting), the Senior Official’s Meeting, and the five Working Groups.