Regional Organisations - Notes

Regional
Organisations -
Notes
Political Science
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European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member
states that are located primarily in Europe.
The EU was created by the Maastricht Treaty (1992), which entered into force in 1993.
The headquarters is in Brussels.
Timeline of the European Union
Treaty of Paris (1951) founding the European Coal and Steel Community.
Treaties of Rome (1957) signed, it creates the Common Market / European Economic
Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community. It came into effect in 1958.
The Single European Act (SEA), which entered into force in 1987, significantly expanded
the EEC’s scope.
In 1992 Maastricht Treaty was formally called the Treaty on European Union. The
European Union is born, and Euro was introduced as a fellow currency.
The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed in 1997 and came into force in 1999, building on the
social protocol of the Maastricht Treaty.
The Treaty of Nice signed in 2001 and entered into force in 2003, for the admission of new
members from Eastern Europe, contained major reforms.
Lisbon Treaty signed in 2007, modified the constitution, and it contains a clause under
Article 50, providing for a member to leave the EU. It came into effect in 2009.
Croatia was the last to join the bloc in 2013.
The United Kingdom, which had been a founding member of the EU, left the organization
in 2020.
Important Details about the EU
Monetary Union - EU also includes a monetary union, which was established in 1999 (and
went into effect in 2002), and 19 EU countries use the euro currency. 8 EU members
(Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden) do not
use the euro.
Schengen Agreement (1985)- It paved the way for the creation of open borders without
passport controls between most member states. It was effective in 1995. Of the 27 EU
member states, 22 participate in the Schengen Area. Of the five EU members that are not
part of the Schengen Area, four—Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania—are legally
obligated to join the area in the future; Ireland maintains an opt-out.
African Union
SUBJECT | Political Science 1 of 6

African Union (AU) intergovernmental organization, established in 2002.

The African Union (AU) replaced the OAU i.e., the Organization of African Unity (1963-
2002).
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on
the continent of Africa.
The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, in 1999.
The Treaty of Abuja (1991) established the African Economic Community (AEC) in 1994.
In 2002 OAU and AEC were integrated to become African Union.
The bloc was founded in 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched in 2002 in Durban,
South Africa.
The headquarters of the African Union is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Agenda 2063: It was adopted on 31 January 2015 as a strategic framework for Africa’s
long-term socio-economic and integrative transformation. To achieve this vision within a
50-year period from 2013 to 2063.
African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA): It was signed at the 12th AU Summit.
It gets started in 2020. It establishes the largest free trade area in the world since the
creation of the World Trade Organization in 1995.
In 2022, the African Union celebrated its 20th anniversary “AU20: Our Africa, Our Future”.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental

international organisation.
The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 between the People's
Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
In 2001 these 5 countries along with Uzbekistan announced the formation of SCO. In the
2017 Astana Summit India, Pakistan officially became a member state.
It is sometimes considered an “alliance of the East”, i.e., the eastern counter of NATO.

Important information about SCO
It was created in 2001.

The SCO Charter was signed in 2002 and entered into force in 2003.
SCO headquarters is in Beijing, China.
The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making
body, which meets once a year.
In 2023 Iran will become a member of SCO.
It is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and
population.
SCO-RATS: It is a permanent body of the SCO and is intended to facilitate coordination
and interaction between the SCO member states in the fight against terrorism,
extremism, and separatism. It was formed in 2004. Headquarters in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan.
The military exercise ‘Peace Mission 2018’ was conducted in Russia and became the
platform after UN Peace Mission Peace Keeping Missions for joint military engagement
between India and Pakistan.
India will assume the SCO Presidency in 2023 and Varanasi has been selected as the SCO
region’s first “Tourism and Cultural Capital”.
The Samarkand Declaration (2022) adopted by the council of heads of government of the
SCO advocated “commitment to peaceful settlement of differences and disputes between
countries through dialogue and consultation

ASEAN
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is an inter-governmental

organization.
It was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand. 8th August is observed as
ASEAN Day.
The primary objective of ASEAN is to accelerate economic, social, and cultural growth
along with regional peace and stability.
ASEAN Secretariat is in Indonesia, Jakarta.
Members and Joining:
In 1967 ASEAN was established by signing the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration)
by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and
Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN in 1984
Vietnam in 1995
Lao PDR and Myanmar in 1997
Cambodia in 1999
Development of the ASEAN Organization

ASEAN Summit: The supreme policy-making body of ASEAN. As the highest level of
authority. Under the Charter, the Summit meets twice a year.
The First ASEAN Summit was held in Bali, Indonesia in 1976.
In 1976, the members signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia,
which emphasizes mutual respect and non-interference in other countries' affairs.
In 1992, members created the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) with the goal of creating a
single market.
In 2007, the ten members adopted the ASEAN Charter, a constitutional document that
provided the grouping with legal status and an institutional framework. It came into
force in 2008.
In 2007, the Cebu Declaration, accelerated the establishment of the ASEAN Community by
2015.
In 2015, the Launch of the ASEAN Community, which include:
ASEAN Political-Security Community
ASEAN Economic Community
ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community
ASEAN Led Forum
ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF): Launched in 1993, the twenty-seven-member multi-lateral

grouping was developed to facilitate cooperation on political and security issues to
contribute to regional confidence-building and preventive diplomacy.
ASEAN Plus Three: The consultative group initiated in 1997 brings together ASEAN’s ten
members, China, Japan, and South Korea.
ASEAN Plus Six: The group includes ASEAN Plus Three as well as India, Australia, and New
Zealand.
East Asia Summit (EAS): It is a regional premier forum for strategic dialogue. It was
established in 2005 under Kuala Lumpur Declaration. The summit seeks to promote
security and prosperity in the region and is usually attended by heads of state from
ASEAN, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and the United
States. ASEAN plays a central role as the agenda-setter. EAS is usually held alongside
ASEAN meetings. The EAS is an ASEAN-centred forum; it can only be chaired by an ASEAN
member. India is a founding member of EAS.
ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Meeting: The first ADMM-Plus was
convened at Ha Noi, Vietnam in 2010. The ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its 8
Dialogue Partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russian Federation,
and the United States) to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace,
stability, and development in the region.
OPEC – Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent,

intergovernmental organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran,
Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
It aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market,
to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing
countries.
It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
The current OPEC members (13) are the following: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia (the De
facto leader), the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
Former OPEC members are Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar. Qatar terminated its
membership on 1 January 2019.
Since 2007, OPEC has published the "World Oil Outlook" annually, in which it presents a
comprehensive analysis of the global oil industry including medium- and long-term
projections for supply and demand.
OPEC plus (+) Countries - OPEC+ is an amalgamation of OPEC and high oil-exporting non-
OPEC nations like Russia and Kazakhstan. In other words, it refers to OPEC’s cooperation
with non-OPEC oil producers to affect production cuts. It came into effect around 2016
and includes countries like Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico,
Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
MERCOSUR
It is a full customs union and a trading bloc with members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay,
and Uruguay.
It is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and the
Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994.
Venezuela was suspended from membership in 2016 for a “rupture of democratic order”
in the country.
Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Suriname are its associate members.
Observer countries are New Zealand and Mexico.
Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and
currency.
India and the Mercosur bloc have stepped up efforts to expand their preferential trade
agreement to make greater inroads into the other’s market.
It has signed free trade agreements with Israel, Egypt, Japan and the European Union,
among others

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Regional

Timeline of the European Union

Important Details about the EU

SUBJECT | Political Science 1 of 6

African Union (AU) intergovernmental organization, established in 2002.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a permanent intergovernmental

SUBJECT | Political Science 2 of 6

Important information about SCO

It was created in 2001.

SUBJECT | Political Science 3 of 6

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is an inter-governmental

Members and Joining:

Development of the ASEAN Organization

SUBJECT | Political Science 4 of 6

ASEAN Led Forum

ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF): Launched in 1993, the twenty-seven-member multi-lateral

OPEC – Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

SUBJECT | Political Science 5 of 6

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent,

SUBJECT | Political Science 6 of 6

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