International Organisations and Groups

The Common Wealth	It was originally known as ‘The British Commonwealth of Nations’. It is an association of sovereign and independent states which formally made up the British Empire. Headquarters: London. Members: 53 The British Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II) is the symbolic head of the commonwealth. Commonwealth heads of government meet (CHOGM) is held in every 2 years.
Arab League	Established: March 22, 1945. Objective: To promote economic, social, political and military cooperation. Members: 22 Headquarters: Cairo
Asia Public Economic Corporation (APEC)	Established: Nov, 1989 Objective: To promote trade and investment in the Pacific basin. Members: 21
Asian Development Bank (ADB)	Established: Dec. 19, 1966 Objective: To promote regional economic cooperation. Members: 59 Headquarters: Manila
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)	Established: Aug. 8, 1967 Objective: Regional, economic, social and cultural cooperation among the non-communist countries of South-East Asia. Members: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia. Headquarters: Djakarta.
Common Wealth of Independent States (CIS)	Established: Dec. 8, 1991 Objective: To coordinate inter-common wealth relations and to provide a mechanism for the orderly dissolution on the USSR. Members: 12 Headquarters: Kirava (Belarus)
Group of 8 or G-8	Established: Sept. 22, 1985 Objective: To promote co-operation among major non-communist economic powers. Members: France, Germany, Japan, UK, US, Canada, Italy, Plus Russia (added later).
Group of 15 or G-15	Established: 1889 Objective: To promote economic co-operation among developing nations. Members: 18

Group of 77 or G-77	Established: Oct. 1967 Objective: To promote economic co-operation among developing nations. Members: 130
International Criminal Police Organization For (INTERPOL)	Established: 1914 Objective: To promote the international cooperation among criminal police authorities. Members: 186 Headquarters: France.
International Olympic Committee (IOC)	Established: June 23, 1894 Objective: To promote the Olympic ideals and administer Olympic Games. Members: 203 Headquarters: Switzerland.
International Organization For Standardization ( ISO)	Established: Feb., 1947 Objective: To promote development of international standards. Members: 158 Headquarters: Switzerland.
International Red Cross And Crescent Movement	Established: 1928 Objective: To promote worldwide humanitarian aid. Headquarters: Geneva.
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)	Established: Sep., 1961 Objective: Political co-operation and separate itself from both USA and USSR (in the cold-war era). Members: 118 The credit of evolving the concept goes to Pt. Jawahar lal Nehru. The other contributors were Marshal Tito (President of Yugoslavia), Dr. Sukamo (President of Indonesia) and General Nasser (President of Egypt). Bandung conference in Indonesia became the forum for the birth of NAM.
European Union	Established: Apr.8, 1965. Effective on July 1, 1967 Objective: To create a united Europe in which member countries would have such strong economic and political bonds that war would cease to be a recurring fact. Members: 27 (The ten new countries which joined in 2004 are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slavakia and Slovania). Bulgaria & Romania joined in 2007. Headquarters: Brussels (Belgium). The common European, currency, Euro, was launched on Jan. 1, 1999
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)	Established: April 4, 1949 Objective: Mutual defense and cooperation Members: 26 + Russia Headquarters: Brussels
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)	Established: Sept,1959 Objective: Attempts to set world prices by controlling oil production and also persues member interest in trade and development. Members: 12 (Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, UAE, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Angola and Venezuela). Headquarters: Vienna (Austria).
South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation (SAARC)	Established: Dec. 8, 1985 Objective: To promote economic, social and cultural cooperation. Members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Srilanka, Afghanistan. Headquarters: Katmandu.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)	Established: Oct. 11, 1947, Effective from April 4, 1951. Objective: Specialized UN Agency concerned with meteorological cooperation. Members: 162 Headquarters: Geneva
Amnesty International (AI)	Established: 1961 Objective: To keep a watch over human rights violation worldwide. Headquarters: London Got Nobel Prize in 1977 for Peace.
Organization Of The Islamic Conference (OIC)	Established: 1969 Objective: To promote Islamic solidarity among member states and to consolidate cooperation among members. Members: 57 Headquarters: Saudi Arabia.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)	Established: June 7, 2002. Objective: To develop mutual cooperation. Members: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrghiztan and Tajikistan.
Scouts and Guides	Established: 1907 by Lt. Gen. Baden Powell. Objective: To encourage good character, loyalty to god and country, service to other people and physical and mental fitness. Members: About 13 million members of around 115 nations. World Scouts Bureau: Geneva (Switzerland).
World Wildlife Fund For Nature (WWF)	Established: Sept. 11, 1961 Objective: To save the wildlife from extinction Members: All the countries of the world Headquarters: Gland (Switzerland)