Today, our planet has more than 250 states, in 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, and Tajikistan. After the entry of Uzbekistan, the organization was renamed.
From the Shanghai Five to the SCO - how was it?
As mentioned above, the SCO is a community of states, the basis for which was the signing in April 1996 in Chinese Shanghai of an agreement formally establishing the deepening of military trust on the borders of states between Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as the conclusion between these same states after a year of the Treaty, which reduces the number of armed forces in the border territories.
After that, steel organization summits are held every year. The venue for meetings of the participating countries was in 1998, the capital of Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata, in 1999 - the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. In 2000, the leaders of the five countries met in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe.
The following year, the annual summit was again held in Shanghai Shanghai, where the five became the six thanks to Uzbekistan, which joined 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 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 aforementioned states signed the Declaration on the establishment of the organization, which noted the positive role of the Shanghai Five, and also expressed the desire of the leaders of the countries to transfer cooperation within its framework to a higher level. In 2001, on July 16, the two leading SCO countries — Russia and China — signed the Treaty on Good Neighborhood, Friendship, and Cooperation.
Almost a year later, a meeting of the heads of member countries of the organization was held in St. Petersburg. During it, the SCO Charter was signed, containing the goals and principles that the organization still adheres to. It also prescribes 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 Eurasian land. And the population of these countries is one quarter of the total world population. If we take into account the observer states, then the residents of the SCO countries are half the population of our planet, which was noted at the July summit in 2005 in Astana. He was first visited by representatives of India, Mongolia, Pakistan and Iran. This fact was noted in his welcoming speech by Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, which hosted the country's summit that year. If you want to have an accurate idea of how the SCO countries are geographically located, a map that clearly shows this is presented 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 to discuss issues related to security, military affairs, defense, foreign policy, the economy, culture, banking, and all the others that were raised during the discussion by officials representing the SCO countries. The list was not limited by anything: the subject of discussion was any topic that, in the opinion of the participants in the meeting, required attention from the public.
In addition, relationships have been established with other international communities. 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 Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organization of Islamic cooperation (OIC). For 2015, the SCO and BRICS summit is planned in the capital of the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan Ufa, one of the goals of which is to establish business and partnerships between the two organizations.
Structure
The supreme organ of the organization is the Council of Heads of State. They make decisions within the community. Meetings take place at summits held annually in one of the capitals of member countries. At the moment, the Presidents Council consists of presidents: Kyrgyzstan - Almazbek Atambayev, China - Xi Jinping, Uzbekistan - Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan - Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russia - Vladimir Putin and Tajikistan - Emomali Rakhmon.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second most important body in the SCO, holding summits every year, discussing issues related to multilateral cooperation, and approving the organization’s budget.
The Council of Foreign Ministers also holds meetings on a regular basis, where they 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 the BRICS.
The Council of National Coordinators, as its name implies, coordinates multilateral cooperation of states regulated by the SCO Charter.
The secretariat has the functions of the main executive body in the community. He implements organizational decisions and decrees, prepares 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 the capital of China, Beijing. Its current General Director is Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev, ex-governor of the Irkutsk region, a 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 in relation to terrorism, separatism and extremism, which is actively led by the SCO. 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 its country to the anti-terrorist structure.
Security Collaboration
The SCO countries are actively carrying out activities in the field of security, focusing primarily on the problems of ensuring it to the participating states. This is especially relevant today in relation to the danger to which members of the SCO in Central Asia may be exposed. As mentioned earlier, the organization’s tasks include countering terrorism, separatism and extremism.
At the June 2004 SCO Summit, held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) was established and subsequently established. In April 2006, the organization issued a statement informing of a planned fight aimed at 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 is not going to be one, however, the increased threat of phenomena such 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 CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). The purpose of this was to expand cooperation on security issues, the fight against crime and drug trafficking. A joint plan of action between organizations was approved in Beijing in early 2008.
In addition, the SCO is actively opposed to cyber war, saying that the disseminated information that is harmful to the spiritual, moral and cultural spheres of other countries should also be considered as a threat to security. In accordance with the definition of the term “information war” adopted in 2009, such actions are interpreted as an act of undermining by one state the political, economic and social system of another state.
Cooperation of members of the organization in the military sphere
In recent years, the organization has been active, whose goals are close military cooperation, the fight against terrorism and the exchange of intelligence information.
During this time, the SCO members held a series of joint military exercises: the first was held in 2003 in two stages, first in Kazakhstan and then in China. Since that time, Russia and China under the auspices of the SCO conducted large-scale military exercises in 2005, 2007 (Peace Mission 2007) and 2009.
More than 4, 000 Chinese soldiers took part in the 2007 joint military exercises in the Chelyabinsk region, agreed a year earlier during a meeting of the SCO defense ministers. During them, both the air force and precision weapons were actively used. The then Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergey 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 participate in such exercises under the auspices of the SCO.
The Peace Mission 2010 military exercises, held at the Matybulak Kazakh training ground in September 2010, brought together more than 5, 000 Chinese, Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tajik military personnel who carried out exercises related to operational maneuvers and military operations planning.
The SCO is a platform for important military statements made by the participating countries. Thus, during the Russian exercises in 2007, during a meeting of leaders of countries, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian strategic bombers would resume their flights in order to patrol territories for the first time since the Cold War.
SCO activity in the economy
In addition to membership in the SCO, the composition of the organization’s countries, with the exception of the PRC, 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 creating a free trade zone in the territory of the SCO countries, as well as take other measures to improve the flow of goods inside it. The result of this proposal was the signing in 2004 of a plan of 100 specific actions.
In October 2005, the Moscow summit was marked by a statement by the Secretary-General that the SCO organization would pay priority attention 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. Also at this summit, the creation of the SCO Interbank Council was approved, the tasks of which were to include funding for future joint projects. Its first meeting was held in Beijing in February 2006, and in November of that 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 made a commitment to implement this idea, but it was approved at the August 2008 summit.
The 2007 Summit went down in history thanks to the initiative of the Vice President of Iran Parviz Davudi, who said that the SCO is a great place to design a new banking system that is not dependent on international ones.
At the June summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, which the SCO and BRICS countries (then BRIC) held at the same time, the Chinese authorities announced a $ 10 billion loan to the organization to strengthen their economies in the context of 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, is actively conducting cultural activities. The first meeting of the SCO ministers of culture took place in Beijing, the capital of China, 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 Kazakhstan in 2005, along with the next summit, an art festival and exhibition were held for the first time. Kazakhstan also made a proposal to organize 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 Charter, a SCO meeting with 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 organization’s member states in a place determined in advance by its members. The Council of Foreign Ministers meets a month before the annual summit held by the heads of state. If it is necessary to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, 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 participants was approved, but so far none of the countries wishing to join the organization has become its full member. However, some of these states participated in SCO summits in the status of observers. And they expressed their interest in entering the main team. Thus, in the future, Iran and Armenia may become members of the SCO. The latter, in the person of 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, the 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 her to become a full member of the SCO. This Russian initiative was supported by China.
Acts as an observer and Iran, which was to become a full member in March 2008. However, UN sanctions have caused a temporary blockage of the country's admission to the SCO. The composition of the observer countries includes Mongolia and Pakistan. The latter also seeks entry into the organization. The Russian side openly supports this desire.
Dialogue partnership
Provision on dialogue partners appeared in 2008. It is set out in article 14 of the Charter. In it, the dialogue partner is considered as a state or an international organization that shares the principles and goals pursued by the SCO, and is also interested in establishing a relationship 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 counterweight to the United States and the NATO bloc to prevent possible conflicts that allow the United States to intervene in the domestic politics of neighboring countries - Russia and China. America tried to obtain observer status in the organization, but its application was rejected in 2006.
At the 2005 summit in Astana, in connection with the hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the uncertain situation regarding the location of the US military in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the organization put forward a demand for the American authorities to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from the SCO member states. After that, Uzbekistan announced the request to close the K-2 air base on its territory.
Although the organization did not make any direct critical statements regarding US foreign policy and its presence in the region, some indirect statements at recent meetings were interpreted by Western media as criticisms of Washington’s actions.
