Stanislav Ivanov, Leading Researcher, Center for International Security,IMEMO RAS, Candidate of Historical Sciences

As is known, Belarus has been a dialogue partner of the SCO since 2010, received observer status in 2015, and since then has been consistently increasing its participation in the work of this authoritative international organization. President of Belarus A. Lukashenko set an ambitious task for the country – to become a full member of the SCO within the next year.

At the SCO summit in Samarkand in September 2022, by unanimous decision of the participants, the procedure for granting Belarus the status of a full member of the SCO was approved. Minsk is being pushed towards this scenario by the integration processes of Russia, other partners of Belarus in the EAEU and the CSTO with the SCO countries.

It should not be forgotten that the Russian Federation and Belarus are states parties to the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State, in accordance with which our countries are systematically and consistently working to harmonize legislation and create a single economic space. A similar process is taking place in the SCO countries, so for Belarus it is very important to “keep up with the times.”

The leadership of Belarus rightly believes that cooperation on the SCO platform opens up great prospects for Minsk in political, trade, economic, communication and other areas, including regional security. Representatives of Belarus are already participating in summits, meetings of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO, ministerial meetings on foreign economic and foreign trade activities, conferences on trade and economic cooperation, events of parliamentary and non-governmental structures of the SCO: Business Council and the Interbank Association. Of great interest to Belarus are the improvement of the common transport space, international transportation, as well as the coordinated development of the road network. This should facilitate the country’s participation in multimodal transport, improve the transport infrastructure and open up the transit potential more widely.

With the onset of the Ukrainian crisis, the transit corridor through Belarus to Lithuania, Latvia and Poland and further to other EU countries is of particular importance for the SCO countries. The benefit from the intensification of traffic along this route will be mutual, both for Belarus and for the SCO countries.

Belarus is also developing cooperation with the SCO along the line of antiterrorist structures. So, in September 2021, its units took part in the joint SCO exercises “Peace Mission – 2021” in the Orenburg region of the Russian Federation. In addition, interaction between Belarus within the framework of the SCO has been established in many areas of cultural, humanitarian, environmental and other cooperation.

The speedy registration of Minsk’s membership in the SCO is the most important task in 2023, said Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik. Russia, China, as well as other SCO member states, supported the desire of Minsk to become a member of the organization in an accelerated manner.

On July 13, 2023, the President of Belarus signed a law on the accession of Belarus to international treaties within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In accordance with this law, the country joins 22 international treaties. Among them are the SCO Charter, the Shanghai Convention on Combating Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism, the agreement on the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the SCO, agreements on cooperation in the fight against illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, on cooperation in the field of identifying and blocking the channels of penetration of persons involved in terrorist, separatist and extremist activities.

The package of documents also included agreements on the procedure for organizing and conducting joint anti-terrorist activities and exercises, on holding joint military exercises, on cooperation in the field of ensuring international information security, on cooperation in providing assistance in emergency situations, as well as the SCO conventions against terrorism, on countering extremism, an agreement on long-term good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation between the SCO member states.

During his online speech at the SCO summit in Delhi in early July 2023, the President of Belarus stressed that the organization is forced to focus even more not only on economic issues, but also on the problems of security and stability in the region. Minsk actively promotes the idea of a global development independent of the West: for the creation of a large Eurasian partnership with countries with which it has developed close bilateral relations – China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and other partners in the CIS, for pairing the formats of the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, SCO and BRICS in a broad context of mutual benefit and security.

If everything goes according to plan, and hardly anyone doubts this, at the next summit of the Organization Belarus will become its tenth full member.