Global Times: SCO a model of successful regional cooperation

BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from Thursday to Friday. The summit attracted international attention as it took place at a special time. How to interpret the significance of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Central Asia? Why has the SCO become a model of successful regional cooperation? Global Times invited four experts from Russia and Central Asian countries to share their views.

Anton Bugayenko, chief expert of the Chinese and Asian studies program under the Institute of World Economy and Politics in Kazakhstan

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Central Asia comes as significant changes are taking place in the political environment and the socio-economic sphere of countries in the region. Central Asia and China are interested in joint development, and the current global turbulence has pushed both sides to cooperate closer with each other.

Kazakhstan is where President Xi Jinping first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) back in 2013. Kazakhstan’s leadership is positive about the results of cooperation under the BRI. Kazakhstan has received notable dividends from participating in the BRI. In particular, it increased the diversification of the economy by shoring up the manufacturing industry. The diversification of Kazakh exports has also increased through the supply of non-oil goods to the Chinese market, from rolled steel and ore to agricultural products. With the help of Chinese investment, Kazakh authorities are addressing the development of less economically developed provinces.

Oleg Ivanov, deputy head of the International and National Security Department, Diplomatic Academy, Moscow.

The SCO promotes wide cooperation and security based on common interests and international law. Therefore, countries neighboring the SCO do not feel threatened when more countries join the organization. Willingness of more countries to join as members indicates that the organization is becoming more and more attractive and is growing.

The SCO is a vivid example of diversity of the international community, where different countries find common ground for mutually beneficial cooperation. The SCO summit is sure to be a clear evidence that evolving multipolar world has a non-Western strong pillar that the world community can rely on.

Sheradil Baktygulov, an independent political analyst based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

International cooperation is based on multilateral institutions and the SCO is a model of successful regional cooperation. The SCO has managed to unite countries with different cultural and civilizational codes, and different foreign policy guidelines and models of national development. In a short historical period, the SCO has come a long way, becoming an integral element of the modern global political and economic world order.

The SCO makes all decisions on the consensus base. It doesn’t matter how big a territory or economy of this or that country is. The matter is goodwill to mutually benefiting cooperation on a wide range of real world issues.

The SCO introduces the goodwill approaches. The human values, solid international legal base, good relations among countries, good relations among peoples represent some examples of goodwill approaches. Thus the SCO is providing new opportunities to all interested countries in mutually benefiting economic growth. And none of the member states dictates to another what should be done.

Farkhod Tolipov, director of the Non-Governmental Research Institution “Knowledge Caravan,” Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The SCO can make its important and tangible contribution to mitigating conflicts by, for example, strengthening peace and security in its own “zone of responsibility.”

For example, two members of the SCO – India and Pakistan – are in cleavage and conflict over Kashmir. If SCO strategically manages to really contribute to mitigation of this territorial dispute, it would be a strong example for other countries and regions of dealing with conflict-prone issues.

Moreover, SCO is better positioned for realization of multiple projects on activation of cooperation in political, economic, trade, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres. From its inception, the SCO has served as a forum for mobilization of member-states for multi-faceted cooperation. We can argue that it helped to nurture and prepare environment for what is today called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In other words, Shanghai Spirit is on the background of BRI; and success of the latter will be linked to a great extent to the success and efficiency of the former.

Global Times: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202209/1275267.shtml