"The SCO is getting stronger"
— Visit to Vladimir Potapenko, former Deputy Secretary-General of the SCO
Guangming Daily reporter in Moscow Han Xianyang
From 15 to 16 September, the twenty-second meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member States will be held in the historic city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan. As the SCO Summit in Samarkand enters its one-week countdown, countries are preparing for the summit to jointly address the most pressing global and regional challenges and threats. Vladimir Potapenko, former deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, said in an interview with this reporter a few days ago that the SCO is a fairly young and rapidly developing organization that will continue to find its own position in the rapidly changing world.
Vladimir Pota Pianko Photo by Han Hsien Yang / Guangming photo
The SCO "Samarkand Summit" is ready
Potapeoko believes that the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO member states in Samarkand, a city historically located at the crossroads of trade routes, is of particular importance and will open up a new path for resolving the acute political and economic problems facing the contemporary international community. During the Samarkand Summit, the participating countries will review the current situation and prospects of the development of multilateral cooperation and determine the priorities and practical measures for strengthening SCO activities at the current stage. In view of emerging geopolitical realities, Member States, observer States and dialogue partners will pay particular attention to strengthening the Organization's role in international engagement.
The SCO Samarkand Summit will provide new impetus to the close interaction of member states in the political, security, economic and human fields through a batch of high-quality documents. At the summit, the SCO will issue a declaration that will reflect the common positions of member states on the hot issues of the current era and inject strong impetus into the next step of development.
At the Samarkand Summit, Iran will sign a memorandum on fulfilling the obligations of SCO member states and be admitted as a full member, and the SCO will also provide Dialogue Partner status to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, start the belarusian process of joining the SCO, and make decisions on granting Bahrain and Maldives dialogue partner status. According to the available information, the overwhelming majority of member states, leaders of observer states, as well as President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan, President Erdogan of Turkey, and Crown Prince Salman of Saudi Arabia will go to Samarkand to attend the meeting. It can be expected that the SCO will undergo a large-scale expansion after the "Samarkand Summit". In addition to the decisions already taken, the Organization's package includes the acceptance of applications for participation from Syria and Israel, the prospect of including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Nepal in the list of observer states, and consideration of Myanmar's desire to join the SCO.
Quoting Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov as saying that from a geostrategic point of view, the SCO is one of the few organizations that can resist the unipolar world order imposed by the United States and the West, and it is very attractive to most countries in the world. On the one hand, there is neither a hegemonic leader like the United States in the SCO, nor a military-political alliance with strict standards and obligations to the participating states; On the other hand, although the SCO was created much later, it is not inferior in terms of international influence.
The SCO is determined to meet various challenges
Potapenko said the growing international situation has prompted the SCO to face a series of challenges seriously, but the member states have been able to maintain maximum freedom and mobility. The SCO does not impose any strict obligations on its member states or interfere with its partnerships with other states and organizations.
Portals stressed that the SCO's agenda in recent years has included not only regional issues, but also global issues. Since its establishment, the SCO has established close relations with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Cisconus and ASEAN, as well as the implementation of the large-scale integration project of the "Greater Eurasian Partnership" proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Although security issues remain key to SCO activities, it is not difficult to see that its focus is gradually shifting to economic and trade cooperation, which will be confirmed in the package signed during the Samarkand Summit, Potapec said. According to the World Bank, the combined GDP of all SCO member states and Iran in 2021 will reach $23.5 trillion, or 24% of global GDP; In the same year, trade between SCO member states reached $651 billion.
Potapenko pointed out that the geopolitical turmoil in recent times, especially anti-Russian sanctions, has prompted the SCO countries to seriously consider how to protect their trade relations from restrictions. One idea is that countries will gradually transition from the us dollar to their national currencies in mutual trade settlements. The SCO currently has significant oil and gas producers such as Russia and Kazakhstan, and with the addition of Saudi Arabia, the Uae and Iran will further unleash the potential for increased local currency settlement in the energy sector.
The Arab world is increasingly interested in the SCO
When he was appointed SCO's Deputy Secretary-General for International Cooperation in 2017, Potapenko recalled, he set several goals for expanding and deepening interaction with multilateral international organizations. As a first step, the SCO Secretariat established contacts with the representative office of the League of Arab States in Beijing and organized an SCO briefing for the ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions of the Arab League member states. As seen today, the seeds sown 5 years ago are bearing fruit. At the SCO Dushanbe Summit in 2021, the SCO Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation with the Secretariat of the League of Arab States.
Potapenko believes that Arab countries are scrambling to develop relations with the SCO for many reasons. First, the main objectives and principles of ensuring security and combating terrorism and separatism, as set out in the main basic documents of the SCO, as well as their achievements, are attractive to arab states.
Secondly, the "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and the pursuit of common development followed by the SCO is very consistent with the experience of the Arab world for thousands of years. In recent times, major changes have taken place in international relations, and a new world based on multilateralism is gradually emerging before our eyes. There is no doubt that the Arab countries are on the road ready to change the world.
Finally, the Arab States, feeling enormous political and economic pressure from the West, began to look for mutually beneficial centres of cooperation that would bring security, stability and development. For some Arab countries, the West is no longer a fully reliable partner.
Potapenko said that the SCO space is expected to continue to expand, thus contributing to the increased authority of the SCO, "to achieve this goal, the SCO needs to think about the relationship between the SCO family and the new members."
(Guangming Daily Moscow, September 8)
Guangming Daily ( 2022-09-09 12th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily