Today our planet has more than 250 states, on the territory of which more than 7 billion people live. For the successful conduct of business in all spheres of society, various organizations are established, membership in which gives the participating countries advantages and support from other states.
One of them is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is a Eurasian political, economic and military formation, which was established in 2001 by the leaders of the states of the Shanghai Five founded in 1996, which at that time included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan. After the accession of Uzbekistan, the organization was renamed.
From the Shanghai Five to the SCO – how was it?
As mentioned above, the SCO is a commonwe alth of states, the basis for the creation of which was the signing in Chinese Shanghai in April 1996 of the Treaty officially establishing the deepening of military confidence on the borders of states between Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as the conclusion between the same states a year later of the Treaty, which reduces the number of armed forces in the border areas.
AfterThis organization's summits have become held every year. In 1998, the capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata, in 1999, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, became a platform for meetings of the participating countries. In 2000, the leaders of the five countries met in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.
The following year, the annual summit was again held in Shanghai, China, where the five turned into the six thanks to Uzbekistan joining it. Therefore, if you want to know exactly which countries are members of the SCO, we summarize: now the organization has six countries as full-fledged members: these are Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In the summer of 2001, in June, all six heads of the above states signed a Declaration on the establishment of the organization, in which the positive role of the Shanghai Five was noted, and the desire of the leaders of the countries to transfer cooperation within its framework to a higher level was expressed. In 2001, on July 16, the two leading SCO countries - Russia and China - signed the Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.
Almost a year later, the meeting of the heads of the countries participating in the organization took place in St. Petersburg. During it, the SCO Charter was signed, containing the goals and principles that the organization still adheres to. It also spells out the structure and form of work, and the document itself is officially approved in accordance with international law.
Today, the SCO member states occupy more than half of the Eurasian landmass. And the population of these countriesaccounts for one quarter of the world's population. If we take into account the observer states, then the inhabitants of the SCO countries are half the population of our planet, which was noted at the July 2005 summit held in Astana. It was visited for the first time by representatives of India, Mongolia, Pakistan and Iran. This fact was noted in his welcoming speech by Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, the host country of that year's summit. If you want to have an accurate idea of how the SCO countries are geographically located, a map showing this is provided below.
SCO initiatives and cooperation with other organizations
In 2007 more than twenty large-scale projects related to the transport system, energy and telecommunications were initiated. Regular meetings were held at which issues related to security, military affairs, defense, foreign policy, economy, culture, banking and all other issues raised during the discussion by officials representing the SCO countries were discussed. The list was not limited by anything: the subject of discussion was any topic that, in the opinion of the meeting participants, required attention from the public.
In addition, relations with other international communities have been established. This is the United Nations (UN), where the SCO is an observer of the General Assembly, the European Union (EU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN from the English Association of South-East Asian Nations), the Commonwe alth of Independent States (CIS), the OrganizationIslamic Cooperation (OIC). A summit of the SCO and BRICS is planned for 2015 in the capital of the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, Ufa, one of the goals of which is to establish business and partnership relations between these two organizations.
Structure
The supreme body of the organization is the Council of Heads of State. They make decisions as part of the work of the community. The meetings take place at summits held annually in one of the capitals of the member countries. At the moment, the Presidents of the Council of Heads of State are: Kyrgyzstan - Almazbek Atambaev, China - Xi Jinping, Uzbekistan - Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan - Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia - Vladimir Putin and Tajikistan - Emomali Rahmon.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second most important body in the SCO, holding annual summits, discussing issues related to multilateral cooperation, and approving the budget of the organization.
The Council of Foreign Ministers also meets on a regular basis to talk about the current international situation. In addition, the topic of conversation is interaction with other organizations. Of particular interest on the eve of the Ufa summit are the relations between the SCO and BRICS.
The Council of National Coordinators, as its name implies, coordinates the multilateral cooperation of states, regulated by the SCO charter.
The secretariat has the function of the main executive body in the community. They implement organizational decisions and decrees, prepare draft documents (declarations,programs). It also acts as a documentary depository, organizes specific events at which the SCO member countries work, and promotes the dissemination of information about the organization and its activities. The secretariat is located in Beijing, the capital of China. Its current CEO is Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev, former governor of the Irkutsk region, member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
The headquarters of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is located in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. This is a permanent body whose main function is to develop cooperation against terrorism, separatism and extremism, which is actively pursued by the SCO organization. The head of this structure is elected for a three-year term, each member state of the community has the right to send a permanent representative from their country to the anti-terrorist structure.
Security cooperation
The SCO countries actively carry out activities in the field of security, focusing primarily on the problems of its provision to the member states. This is especially relevant today with regard to the danger that SCO members in Central Asia may be exposed to. As mentioned earlier, the tasks of the organization include countering terrorism, separatism and extremism.
At the June 2004 SCO summit, held in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) was established and subsequently created. In April 2006, the organization madea statement announcing the planned fight against cross-border drug crime through counter-terrorism operations. At the same time, it was announced that the SCO is not a military bloc, and the organization does not intend to be one, but the increased threat of such phenomena as terrorism, extremism and separatism makes it impossible to ensure security without the full involvement of the armed forces.
In autumn 2007, in October, in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, an agreement was signed with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The purpose of this was to expand cooperation on security issues, the fight against crime and drug trafficking. A joint action plan between the organizations was approved in Beijing in early 2008.
In addition, the SCO actively opposes cyber warfare, stating that disseminated information that harms the spiritual, moral and cultural spheres of other countries should also be considered a security threat. In accordance with the definition of the term “information war” adopted in 2009, such actions are interpreted as an act of undermining the political, economic and social system of another state by one state.
Cooperation of members of the organization in the military sphere
In recent years, the organization has been active in close military cooperation, the fight against terrorism and the exchange of intelligence information.
For thisAt present, the SCO members have held a number of joint military exercises: the first was held in 2003 in two stages, first in Kazakhstan and then in China. Since that time, large-scale military exercises have been held by Russia and China under the auspices of the SCO in 2005, 2007 (“Peace Mission-2007”) and 2009.
More than 4,000 Chinese soldiers took part in the 2007 joint military exercise in the Chelyabinsk region, agreed a year earlier during a meeting of SCO defense ministers. During them, both the air force and high-precision weapons were actively used. The then Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ivanov, announced that the exercises were transparent and open to the public and the media. Their successful completion prompted the Russian authorities to expand cooperation, therefore, in the future, Russia invited India to become a participant in such exercises under the auspices of the SCO.
The "Peace Mission 2010" military exercise held at the Kazakh Matybulak training ground in September 2010 brought together more than 5,000 Chinese, Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tajik military personnel who conducted together exercises related to operational maneuvers and military operations planning.
The SCO is a platform for important military announcements made by member countries. Thus, during the Russian exercise in 2007, during a meeting of leaders of the countries, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian strategic bombers were resuming their flights in order to patrol the territory for the first time since the Cold War.
SCO activities in the economy
In addition to membership in the SCO, the composition of the countries of the organization, with the exception of China, is part of the Eurasian Economic Community. The signing of a framework agreement by the SCO states, which takes economic cooperation to a new level, took place in September 2003. In the same place, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao proposed in the future to work on the creation of a free trade zone on the territory of the SCO countries, as well as to take other measures to improve the flow of goods within it. This proposal resulted in the signing of a plan of 100 concrete actions in 2004.
In October 2005, the Moscow summit meeting was marked by a statement by the Secretary General that the SCO organization would give priority to joint energy projects, including both the oil and gas sector, and the joint use of water resources and the development of new hydrocarbon reserves. The summit also approved the creation of the SCO Interbank Council, whose task was to finance future joint projects. Its first meeting was held in Chinese Beijing in February 2006, and in November of the same year it became known about the development of Russian plans for the so-called "SCO Energy Club". The need for its creation was confirmed at the November 2007 summit, however, with the exception of Russia, no one undertook to implement this idea, but it was approved at the August 2008 summit.
The 2007 summit made history thanks toinitiative of Iranian Vice President Parviz Davoudi, who said that the SCO is a great place to design a new banking system independent of international ones.
At the June 2009 summit in Yekaterinburg, which the SCO and BRICS countries (at that time still BRIC) held at the same time, the Chinese authorities announced the allocation of a $10 billion loan to members of the organization in order to strengthen their economies during the global financial crisis.
Activities of countries in the SCO in the field of culture
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in addition to political, military and economic activities, is also actively engaged in cultural activities. The first meeting of the ministers of culture of the SCO countries took place in the Chinese capital Beijing in April 2002. During it, a joint statement was signed confirming the continuation of cooperation in this area.
Under the auspices of the SCO in Astana in 2005, along with the next summit, for the first time an art festival and an exhibition were held. Kazakhstan also made a proposal to hold a folk dance festival under the auspices of the organization. The proposal was accepted and the festival was held in Astana in 2008.
About summits
In accordance with the signed Charter, the meeting of the SCO at the Council of Heads of State is held every year in different cities of the participating countries. The document also says that the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) holds a summit once a year on the territory of the member states of the organization at a place determined in advance by its members. The Council of Foreign Ministers meets one month beforeannual summit held by heads of state. If it is necessary to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, it can be organized at the initiative of any two participating States.
Who can join the SCO in the future?
In the summer of 2010, the procedure for accepting new members was approved, but so far none of those wishing to join the organization has become a full member of the organization. However, some of these states were participants in the SCO summits in the status of observers. And they expressed their interest in joining the main team. Thus, in the future, Iran and Armenia may become members of the SCO. The latter, represented by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, during a meeting with a colleague from China, expressed interest in obtaining observer status in the Shanghai International Organization.
SCO Observers
Today, potential countries of the SCO and BRICS are in this status in the organization. Afghanistan, for example, received it at the Beijing summit in 2012. India also acts as an observer and Russia, seeing in it one of the most important future strategic partners, called on it to become a full member of the SCO. China also supported this Russian initiative.
Iran, which was supposed to become a full participant in March 2008, also acts as an observer. However, the sanctions imposed by the UN caused a temporary blocking of the procedure for the admission of the country to the SCO. The observer countries include Mongolia and Pakistan. The latter also seeksto join the organization. The Russian side openly supports this aspiration.
Dialogue Partnership
Regulations on Dialogue Partners appeared in 2008. It is set out in Article 14 of the Charter. It considers a dialogue partner as a state or an international organization that shares the principles and goals pursued by the SCO, and is also interested in establishing relations of mutually beneficial and equal partnership.
Such countries are Belarus and Sri Lanka, which received this status in 2009, during the summit in Yekaterinburg. In 2012, during the Beijing summit, Turkey joined the dialogue partners.
Cooperation with Western countries
Most Western observers are of the opinion that the SCO should create a counterbalance to the US and the NATO bloc to prevent possible conflicts that allow the US to interfere in the internal politics of neighboring countries - Russia and China. America tried to get observer status in the organization, but her application was rejected in 2006.
At the 2005 summit in Astana, in connection with the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the uncertain situation regarding the presence of US military forces in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the organization put forward a demand to the US authorities to set a time limit for the withdrawal of troops from states that are members of the SCO. After that, Uzbekistan voiced a request to close the K-2 airbase on its territory.
Although no direct criticism has been made by the organization regardingforeign policy actions of the United States and its presence in the region, some indirect statements at recent meetings were interpreted by Western media as criticism of Washington's actions.
Geopolitics of the SCO
Recently, the geopolitical nature of the organization has also become an object of comment and discussion.
Zbigniew Brzezinski's theory suggests that the control of Eurasia is the key to world domination, and the ability to control the countries of Central Asia gives the power to control the Eurasian continent. Knowing which countries are members of the SCO, we can say that, despite the stated goals regarding the fight against extremism and improving the security of border areas, the organization, according to experts, seeks to balance the activities of America and NATO in Central Asia.
In the fall of 2005, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that the organization was working to create a just and rational world order and the formation of a fundamentally new model of geopolitical integration. This activity is carried out as actively as the work relating to other areas of society.
Chinese media reports that, in accordance with the SCO Declaration, its members are obliged to ensure security in the region, and therefore they call on Western countries not to interfere in its affairs. In other words, the countries of Asia are uniting in order to create a worthy alternative to European international communities and build their own, independent of the West, internationalcommunity.
