The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation focuses on cooperation with international and regional organisations.
The current legal framework of the SCO's foreign relations consists of the following documents (in chronological order):
1. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Beijing, 12 April 2005);
2. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Jakarta, 21 April 2005);
3. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (Dushanbe, 5 October 2007);
4. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (Ashgabat, 11 December 2007);
5. Joint Declaration on Cooperation between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the United Nations Organisation (Tashkent, 5 April 2010);
6. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (Astana, 14 June 2011);
7. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Zhengzhou, 15 December 2015);
8. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (Shanghai, 20 May 2014);
9. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (Astana, 9 June 2017);
10. Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) (Qingdao, 10 June 2018).
11. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Bishkek, 14 June 2019);
12. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the World Tourism Organisation (Bishkek, 14 June 2019);
13. Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (Bishkek, 14 June 2019).