NHT Report
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is one of the youngest but dynamically developing international organizations. June 15 marks the 21st anniversary of the creation of the SCO. Over the past period, it has made a rapid leap from the format of an advisory mechanism to a full-scale interstate association. In a relatively short period, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization has gone a long way in development and has become an integral element of the global political and economic context.
Today, the SCO is the world’s largest regional organization. The total territory of its member countries exceeds 34 million square kilometers. This is more than 60% of the territory of the Eurasian continent. The total population of the SCO countries is 3.2 billion people, which is about half of the world’s population. The organization unites 8 permanent members, 4 observer States and 9 dialogue partners. The large “SCO family”, numbering 21 countries, covers three continents – Asia, Europe and Africa. At the same time, interest from other countries in interacting with the structure in one format or another continues to grow. The consistent expansion of the network of its partner organizations – the UN and its specialized agencies, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU, CICA, ECO – contributes to the enhancement of the SCO’s international authority. Currently, relations are being established with the League of Arab States and a number of other multilateral structures.
The total volume of the economies of the SCO member states is about 20 trillion US dollars, which is 13 times more than when it was created. The organization’s space represents the most capacious consumer market in the world. Today, the total GDP of the SCO members has reached about 1.4 of the global figure. By 2030, this figure may increase to 35-40%.
The SCO has enormous transport and transit potential, which is waiting for its practical implementation. In the context of the diversification of global supply chains, the creation of new international rail and road corridors in Eurasia in the East-West and North-South directions acquires a strategic dimension.
In 2017-2021, the head of our state put forward about 50 important and relevant initiatives at the SCO summits. Most importantly, these proposals are consistently implemented within the framework of the “roadmaps”, regulatory, programmatic and conceptual documents of the SCO, as well as in the form of new mechanisms for multilateral cooperation.
Moreover, in his keynote speech at last year’s Dushanbe summit, the President of Uzbekistan vividly demonstrated the line of initiative and openness, presenting the priorities of the Uzbek chairmanship in the SCO.
Among them is the further strengthening of the SCO’s potential by intensifying multilateral cooperation in such important areas as increasing intraregional trade, industrial cooperation, innovation, green and digital economy.
The plan of the Presidency of the Republic of Uzbekistan provides for holding over 80 major events, more than half of them have been implemented. They cover not only the areas of cooperation already established in the SCO, but also new areas in demand, such as the development of cooperation in intraregional trade, industrial cooperation, innovation, poverty reduction, digital transformation and others.
New approaches and formats have been introduced to the organization of SCO events. They are held not only in Tashkent, but also in the regions, which allows our SCO partners to get a closer look at the potential of interaction that lies in the regions. Thus, meetings of the Council of SCO National Coordinators were organized in the cities of Nukus, Bukhara and Ferghana. A meeting of transport ministers was held in Khiva (May 12, 2022), and an international conference on poverty was held in Bukhara (May 26-27, 2022). It is planned to hold a number of events in August this year in Samarkand.
At the same time, ministerial meetings and meetings are accompanied by thematic forums and conferences. The Chairmanship of Uzbekistan has initiated and already implemented such major events as the SCO People’s Diplomacy Forum (May 11-12, 2022), the Tourism Forum (May 20, 2022), the Traditional Medicine Forum (June 7, 2022), a competition for the best startup projects among young talents of the organization’s member countries.
In order to implement the initiatives put forward by the head of our state during the presidency of Uzbekistan, drafts of 14 new conceptual documents have been developed. They are aimed at meaningful and institutional expansion of the spheres of interaction in the SCO. Separately, it is necessary to highlight the projects of such documents new to the SCO practice as the Transport Interconnectedness Strategy, the Intraregional Trade Development Plan, the Infrastructure Development Program, the establishment of the SCO Goodwill Ambassador Institute.
In turn, the initiative actively promoted by Tashkent to strengthen interconnectedness within the SCO is aimed at the effective use of the huge transport and transit potential in a wide area of the organization.
With these efforts, Uzbekistan intends, together with its partners, to use the opportunities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to accelerate the practical implementation of the system of transport corridors, such as “Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan-China”, “Termez-Mazar-I-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar”, “Lanzhou-Kashgar-Irkeshtam-Osh-Andijan-Tashkent-Mary” and other routes which, in the current geo-economic conditions, acquire a special strategic character.
Uzbekistan’s proposed Strategy of Interconnectedness in the SCO space also contributes to the revival of Afghanistan’s unique economic and transit role for the whole of Eurasia.
In short, the key priorities of the SCO chairmanship outlined by the President of Uzbekistan meet the interests of all parties and, most importantly, are aimed at ensuring stability, sustainable development and strengthening friendship and good-neighborliness throughout the SCO space.
