News Analysis: What drives SCO forward?
16/6/2006 17:03
Over the past five years, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has
evolved into a regional grouping with increasing international clout. Its 2006
Shanghai summit is certainly a big event in the history of the SCO 's
development.
Thursday's summit reviewed the organization's achievements in
the past five years and outlined objectives for future cooperation. Chinese
President Hu Jintao said the summit this year signifies that the regional
organization has entered a new era of development.
Against the backdrop of
complicated world situations and numerous regional challenges, the SCO was set
up on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai on the basis of the "Shanghai Five."
The
member countries were united under the banner of the " Shanghai Spirit" which
embodies mutual trust and benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural
diversity and a desire for common development.
Different from the Cold War
mentality characterized by allied confrontation, the spirit embodies the shared
aspiration of the international community for realizing democracy in
international relations and enriches the theory and practice of contemporary
international relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his keynote
speech at the summit that the "Shanghai Spirit" enables every SCO member to
enjoy truly equal partnership.
In the years to come, "Shanghai Spirit" will
be carried forward in the campaign for an SCO that features more pragmatic
cooperation, more efficient action and more important role.
SCO member states
cover an area of over 30 million square kilometers, or about three-fifths of
Eurasia, with a population of 1.489 billion, nearly a quarter of the world's
total.
China and other SCO members are working on 127 joint projects covering
the areas of trade, investment, customs, finance, taxation, transportation,
energy, agriculture, technology, telecommunications, environment, health and
education.
The regional bloc has also set up seven specialist panels to study
and coordinate action in such fields as customs, transportation, energy and
telecommunications.
On the sidelines of this year's summit, some US$2 billion
worth of business contracts and loan agreements were inked, with the deals
involving a highway project connecting Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, two
high-voltage electricity lines in Tajikistan, a cement plant in Kyrgyzstan, and
a hydropower station in Kazakhstan.
The goal of the SCO in economic
cooperation is to realize free flow of goods, service, capital and technology by
2020 among its members.
In recent years, the SCO has done a lot of
substantial work in the defense and security area. A number of anti-terror
military exercises have been held and a largest-ever one is going to be staged
in Russia in 2007.
Battling the "three evil forces" on the one hand, the SCO
has to address other non-traditional security threats and challenges such as
drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons smuggling in the region.
The
region has been a conduit for Afghan drugs to flow into Europe and other parts
of the world.
To cure the headache, the SCO established a liaison group in
November 2005 between the SCO and Afghanistan and was about to help Afghanistan
set up an "anti-drug zone."
At the Shanghai summit, the SCO further
strengthened its hand in fighting terrorism.
Among the 10 documents signed on
the summit, at least four are directly related to such efforts -- a statement on
international information security, a resolution on fighting terrorism,
separatism and extremism from 2007 to 2009, an agreement on joint anti-terrorism
actions among member countries, and an agreement on cutting off the infiltration
channels of terrorists, separatists and extremists.
In a joint communique
released on Thursday, the six SCO presidents noted "it remains the top priority
of the Organization to combat the threats posed by terrorism, separatism and
extremism as well as illegal drug trafficking, which have not diminished but
aggravated in scale and degree."
Xinhua News
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