Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The event was attended by heads of state and government from India, Iran, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Turkmenistan. The guests also included the UN Secretary General and heads of international organisations such as the CIS, ECO, CICA, CSTO, EEC and IOSB.
During the meeting, a package of 25 joint documents was signed, the Astana Declaration was adopted, in which the SCO member countries supported Russia’s proposal to create a Greater Eurasian Partnership with the participation of the SCO countries, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as other interested states and multilateral associations. An important decision was also to grant the Republic of Belarus the status of a member state of the SCO.
Recall that Belarus became the tenth member of the Organization. The SCO was founded in 2001 by six countries: Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Later Iran, India and Pakistan joined the union.
Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“The enormous contribution of Russia and Kazakhstan”
The current summit was officially opened yesterday, where the participants of the forum engaged in bilateral negotiations. In particular, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with Vladimir Putin.
Thanking the Russian President for his participation in the SCO summit, the head of Kazakhstan noted Russia’s significant contribution to strengthening the “Shanghai spirit.”
“In my opinion, the SCO is one of the most successful international organisations. Moreover, it is inherently democratic; the principle of equality of all states is respected here. Of course, I cannot fail to note Russia’s enormous contribution to strengthening the potential of the SCO,” the Kazakh leader noted.
In his response, Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of the current summit. “As for our bilateral relations, we are in constant contact. Russia remains one of Kazakhstan’s main trade and economic partners,” the Russian President added.
Another highlight yesterday was the opening of a large-scale exhibition “Meeting in the Great Steppe” dedicated to the 5th World Nomad Games at the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation. On this occasion, a presentation of the Games for foreign diplomats and journalists took place at the Kazakhstan athletics complex. The Games themselves will be held from 8 to 13 September 2024 in Kazakhstan. More than 2,000 people are expected to participate.
Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“We are developing dynamically”
In his speech at the forum, the President of Kazakhstan highly praised the SCO, which, according to him, has become an effective mechanism of interstate relations that operates on the basis of the “Shanghai spirit” of friendship, good-neighbourliness, equality and mutual solidarity and support. Tokayev recalled that more than three billion people live in the SCO space. The Organization includes the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, which account for one third of global GDP.
“This clearly demonstrates the enormous potential and global role of our Organization. The SCO has proven to be a unique platform where the voices and interests of all its member countries are equally taken into account. Our long-term cooperation is based on such an unshakable democratic foundation that, I am sure, will be strengthened with new content,” said the head of Kazakhstan.
Tokayev summed up the results of Kazakhstan’s SCO presidency. During this period, the President noted, about 150 events of various levels were held, including digital, tourism, energy and business forums, as well as the SCO Youth Council. The contractual base was supplemented with 60 new documents, including the Anti-Drug Strategy, the Plan for the Implementation of the Economic Cooperation Strategy, the Agreement on Environmental Protection and the Strategy for the Development of Energy Cooperation. The circle of international organizations that are partners of the SCO has expanded. The activities of the Special Working Group on Investments have been resumed. The process of transition to settlements in national currencies has gained positive momentum.
According to Tokayev, thanks to all these measures, trade and economic cooperation in the SCO space is developing dynamically. In addition, the Kazakh presidency paid special attention to strengthening cultural and humanitarian ties.
“A number of anchor projects have been launched that make the SCO format even more attractive. These include the project “Spiritual Sanctuaries of the SCO Countries” and the first international music festival “Silk Road SCO”. Ten tourist territories have also been identified for the implementation of joint projects. The city of Almaty has become the cultural and tourist capital of the SCO,” the President concluded.
In general, Tokayev believes that Kazakhstan has fully achieved all the goals and objectives set at the previous summit. He thanked his colleagues for their support and active participation in the implementation of Kazakhstan’s initiatives.
Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“We are optimistic about the future of the SCO”
The Kazakh leader then listed key areas that, in his opinion, are of strategic importance for all the Shanghai Ten countries. First of all, the Head of State called for strengthening mutual trust and cooperation in the field of security.
“The current difficult situation is largely a consequence of the acute crisis of the entire system of international relations. In this context, the SCO must strengthen its stabilizing and creative role in overcoming the erosion of international law, preventing geopolitical failures and, ultimately, strengthening peace and security in a broad global context,” Tokayev said.
He mentioned as urgent tasks the strengthening of cybersecurity, as well as the development and adoption of the Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures in the Military Sphere focused on combating the “forces of the three evils”. In this regard, the President proposed developing a special mechanism for the constant exchange of information, the application of best practices and best practices to ensure the stable functioning of the information infrastructure of the SCO countries.
The head of Kazakhstan described the expansion of trade and economic ties as the second priority area of cooperation. Recalling the unfavorable trends of the global economy and the World Bank’s forecast of a slowdown in economic growth, Tokayev called on his colleagues to expand trade and economic cooperation, create conditions for the free movement of capital and technology, and combat climate challenges.
“The growth of mutual trade is becoming a general trend in the SCO space,” the President stressed. “In this regard, Kazakhstan’s proposal to create an SCO Economic Preference Base remains relevant. The need to create a single platform for discussing and approving investment projects has become obvious. We propose to create a mechanism for financial support of project activities on the basis of the Astana International Financial Center. China, Russia, India, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are already actively working on this site. In general, 20% of AIFC residents are companies from SCO countries.”
According to Tokayev, the third area of cooperation should be strengthening transport connectivity by creating efficient corridors and reliable supply chains.
“We attach great importance to the development of synergy between the Chinese megaproject “One Belt, One Road”, the Trans-Caspian international transport route and the trans-Eurasian corridors in the North-South direction, including the “Central Asia – South Asia” route. In order to implement these plans, it is important to take practical steps to create a network of strategic ports and logistics centres within the SCO,” the Head of State said.
In addition, Tokayev spoke about the reform and modernization of the SCO. In his opinion, in the context of rapid global changes, the Organization’s activities need to be further improved, and the current process of expansion of the SCO opens up new opportunities and gives impetus to its development.
“Our country, as the SCO Chair, has put forward its balanced proposals to transform the Organization into an even more effective mechanism for multilateral cooperation. In particular, we advocate strengthening the role of the SCO Secretariat and the Secretary General,” the Kazakh leader added.
Summing up the meeting, the President noted that thanks to the fruitful work of the summit participants, a wide range of issues on the future promotion of multifaceted cooperation were discussed and the vector for the future development of the Organization was determined.
“We are optimistic about the future of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. I am confident that the documents we will sign now will open a new page of cooperation within the SCO and contribute to the systematic and comprehensive development of our Organization,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed.
Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“President Tokayev’s narratives are strategic for the SCO”
Leonid Mlechin, a documentary filmmaker and writer, commented on the SCO summit that President Tokayev is turning into a world-class politician before our eyes.
“The death of Henry Kissinger has created the most exclusive vacancy in the political community – that of a political sage recognized and valued throughout the world. Who can replace him? I think that the Kazakh leader could well take this place. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is called a friend by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Xi. President Tokayev is a major political figure, respected in the West and the East, in the North and the South. As a statesman, he represents the same enviable unity of opposites: a high intellectual, but practical, well-educated, who does not shy away from real life. He has experience in political battles. He is distinguished by intellectual depth and at the same time by emotional understanding of the tragedies of modern life,” Mlechin argues.
According to the Russian expert, Tokayev knows how to act in a critical situation, he knows how to set difficult but achievable goals and mobilize all resources, both soft and hard power, to make his ideas a reality.
“He is a realpolitik and at the same time a moralist, determined to make the world a better place. Unshakable calm, the ability to maintain composure and act successfully in the most difficult situations – this is exactly what is required in the current era of growing doubts. And even the fact that the head of China, Xi Jinping, flew to Astana even before the SCO summit to hold negotiations with Tokayev for the second time in recent years is proof of the importance of the country and its president. This is a reality that must be recognized and taken into account,” the Russian publicist confides.
Director of the International Research Laboratory of World Order and New Regionalism of the Higher School of Economics Alexander Lukin believes that President Tokayev’s initiatives in the field of security, the creation of joint economic projects, as well as the further synergy of the “One Belt, One Road” megaproject, the Trans-Caspian international transport route and the Trans-Eurasian corridors will be of great importance in the “North-South” direction.
“Kazakhstan’s activity as the SCO chairman is very remarkable, but the problem with the SCO is not that few agreements are signed there, but that not all of them are implemented in practice. And, by the way, President Tokayev pointed out how this situation can be corrected. That is, by increasing the role of the secretariat and the Secretary General of the organization. The fact is that in the SCO the permanent bodies of the organization do not decide anything; they have very few powers and an extremely small budget, so Tokayev is right: the reform of the internal governance of the SCO is long overdue,” the Russian expert concluded.
Director of the Analytical Center of the Russian Society of Political Scientists Andrei Serenko noted that in his speech at the summit, President Tokayev not only summed up the results of the Kazakh presidency in the SCO (and, in his opinion, they are very impressive), but also recorded important assessments of the role of the Organization in the modern world.
“Russia, China and other members of the Organization will certainly agree with these assessments. In this regard, we can say that President Tokayev’s narratives on the philosophy, mission and role of the SCO in the modern world are strategic and programmatic for this unique partnership. In my opinion, the most important feature of Tokayev’s assessments is the emphasis not only on the regional and transregional role of the SCO, but also on its global mission.
“This speaks of Kazakhstan’s desire to make the SCO one of the leaders of the new global world order, which will inevitably emerge as a result of the current crisis in international relations. Kazakhstan wants to be part of a strong community of strong countries. Therefore, Tokayev is sincerely and consistently pursuing a course to strengthen the SCO, various structures and projects of this Organization. Such a responsible approach can only be welcomed and supported,” Andrei Serenko summed up.
Photo from the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
