Andrey Areshev, political observer, expert of the Strategic Culture Foundation

On September 16, 2022, a summit of the member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held in Samarkand. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev also took part in it. In his speech, he informed his “colleagues about the transit and transport and logistics capabilities of Azerbaijan”, including, in particular, the largest civilian cargo fleet in the Caspian (52 vessels), the modernization of the Baku International Sea Port and the participation of the Caspian Republic in regional communication projects, such as East-West and North-South corridors.

Recall that the SCO was established in 2001 by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Among the statutory priorities in its activities are the strengthening of relations of mutual trust and good neighborliness between the member states; development of effective cooperation in the field of politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc., as well as joint efforts to achieve peace, security and stability in the region, taking steps to create new international economic and political order.

As some observers note, since its establishment, and especially after the accession of India and Pakistan, the SCO has been in search of the most promising areas of development, which, although not limited to security issues, are nonetheless closely related to them.

So far, Azerbaijan is a dialogue partner of the SCO. In 2016, a memorandum was signed reflecting the priority areas of cooperation, including the fight against extremism and separatism, ensuring regional security and stability. In addition to summits and high-level meetings, in June 2023, Azerbaijan once again took part in the SCO Value Chain Forum and the International Investment and Trade Exhibition of the SCO countries in Qingdao, presenting the goods of national producers. And this is far from the only example of its kind.

Having applied for observer status in the SCO in 2018, Baku is interested in raising its status within the organization, which Aliyev once again confirmed at a meeting with Russian media leaders at the Club on February 23, 2022: “As for the SCO, we are already involved in a certain sense. We have been a dialogue partner for more than a year. This is the first step. The second step is observers. And several years ago we officially applied to the SCO secretariat in order to upgrade our status to the status of an observer, but, unfortunately, this issue has not been resolved yet.” Despite the fact that in the course of contacts with the leadership of the SCO member countries it was said that there were no reasons for raising the status, “this still does not happen for reasons unknown to us [Azerbaijan – ed.]”.

During the June 2023 summit in New Delhi, the process of joining the SCO of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a full member was completed. Taking into account the difficult relations between the neighbors in the Araks, theoretically, the SCO, if the appropriate conditions are created, can be considered as an effective platform for discussing existing interstate disagreements and disputes, as well as topical issues of regional security.

  Recall that the predecessor of the SCO was the regional forum of five states established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, within which it was possible to resolve all acute border and other issues between China and the former Soviet republics in a short time. At present, nuclear India and Pakistan, whose relations with Azerbaijan are often regarded as allied, are in fact “balancing” each other in the SCO.

The SCO member states are actively considering the issue of obtaining observer status for Baku and Yerevan, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming noted in March 2022, expressing optimism on this matter, but finding it difficult to name specific dates. In particular, he stated: “The SCO member states are unanimous in not introducing bilateral contradictions into the organization. It is also an obligation that any country aspiring to join the “SCO family” must fulfill.

However, Azerbaijan’s application for observer status is currently being considered by member states, the SCO Secretary General said on April 17 during a meeting with a delegation from Baku led by Azerbaijani presidential aide Anar Alakbarov, expressing the hope that it would receive a positive response.

​ Thus, it can be stated that the previously expressed skeptical assessments regarding the prospects for Azerbaijan’s accession to the SCO are beginning to change. At the same time, Baku’s active participation in various kinds of broad international formats, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, which in the future opens up additional opportunities for closer cooperation with the SCO, also affects.

It is this Organization, which is not a military or other bloc that is able to provide long-term geo-economic ties over the momentary conjuncture, giving a more solid foundation to relations between its participants, including not only full members, but also observer states and dialogue partners.