A year ago, at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Head of our state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the key areas of the chairmanship, including security, economic cooperation, digitalization, and strengthening cultural ties.
Following these directions, more than 150 events were held over the past year. This confirms the successful completion of a stage that is important for the development of the Organization in the context of modern challenges of world politics and the economy. Head of the Analysis and Forecasting group of the Foreign Policy Research Institute Amir Bashbayev spoke about the achievements of the Organization over the past year and future prospects,El.kz reports.
- At the SCO summit on July 4, 2023, our President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the priorities of Kazakhstan's chairmanship. They include ensuring security and stability, expanding trade and economic ties, strengthening energy cooperation, developing digitalization, cultural and humanitarian ties and strengthening interactions in the field of ecology. And, of course, strengthening the capacity of the organization itself.
Within the framework of the identified priorities, a total of more than 150 events were held. As one of the main results of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it should be noted that Kazakhstan became the author of the SCO initiative "On World Unity for Just Peace and Harmony".
This document was developed at the initiative of the Head of our state, who proposed that in the current difficult conditions of international turbulence, taking into account modern trends in world politics and economics, the SCO should become an active organization that will participate in resolving conflicts and develop a certain formula for peace that states would adhere to. This document also provides a response to the challenges of climate change and environmental problems. The Kazakh chairmanship also paid great attention to the coordination of the efforts of the member states for the effective implementation of the SCO economic development strategy until 2030. In this context, it should be noted that our country has taken the initiative to create an investment fund of the organisation. As you know, the SCO is often criticized for the lack of economic projects, which was due to the fact that effective mechanisms for supporting projects in the economic sphere have not yet been created. Therefore, the initiative of the Kazakh side is a practical step towards strengthening investment synergy in the SCO.
What steps have been taken to strengthen energy cooperation?
- Kazakhstan's chairmanship pays serious attention to cooperation in the energy sector. The SCO can also be called an energy club, since it includes two major oil and gas producing states, Russia and Iran, the Central Asian states, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which have huge reserves of energy raw materials, and two states, China and India, which are the main consumers of oil and gas in the world. In this context, taking into account these circumstances, the forum that the Kazakh chairmanship organized in October last year - the SCO Energy Forum in Astana - made it possible to determine the prospects for further cooperation within the SCO in the field of energy policy.
Kazakhstan's chairmanship also gave a certain impetus to the deepening of cultural and humanitarian cooperation, which is one of the most dynamically developing areas of interaction within the SCO. The chairmanship paid great attention to the implementation of the project of the spiritual shrine of the SCO countries and the organization of an international scientific and practical conference on the theme "The Golden Horde and its heritage", which was held in April this year in Turkestan with the participation of leading experts and scientists of the SCO member states.
What will be unusual in the upcoming summit? How will it differ from the previous ones?
- The summit will be held in two formats: the first is a meeting of the Council of Heads of State, and the second is an SCO Plus meeting. 10 countries will take part in the meetings of the Council of Heads of State: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Belarus. Belarus will already have the status of an SCO member state.
Azerbaijan, Qatar, the United Emirates, Mongolia, Turkey and Turkmenistan will take part in the SCO Plus meeting. The participation of the UN Secretary General, the heads of the CICA, the CSTO, the CIS, the ECO and the EEC is also expected.
The main result of the Astana summit will be that the Republic of Belarus will join the Shanghai Organization as a full member.
And, of course, the Astana Declaration will be the main political document. The draft of this document is being coordinated, and on the 4th the document will be signed and adopted during the summit by the heads of the SCO member states. A distinctive feature of the Astana summit will also be that the SCO will open a new page in its transformation. As you know, in recent years, the organization has expanded: India, Pakistan, Iran have been admitted. Now Belarus will join. In this regard, there is a need to update the statutory documents of the Organization, which requires an analysis of the functioning of the SCO.