Sergey Saenko, international observer

The year 2022, which is going down in history, has become an important stage in the life of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO or the Organization). Recall that the SCO is a permanent regional international association, the establishment of which was announced on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai. Over the years of its existence, the SCO has become one of the most authoritative and influential international organizations that makes a significant contribution to the stable and progressive development of the Eurasian region. Today, the SCO is about a third of the world’s GDP, 60% of the territory of Eurasia and almost 40% of the population of the entire planet.

At the moment, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are full members of the Organization, and Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia have the status of observer countries. In addition, the status of dialogue partner countries was assigned to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Sri Lanka. Bahrain, Maldives, Kuwait, UAE and Myanmar are expected to join them soon. And as it was decided at the Organization’s September summit in Samarkand, next year Belarus should receive the status of a full member of the SCO.

In 2022, the chairmanship of the SCO was held by Uzbekistan, which in September last year took over from Tajikistan and exactly a year later handed it over to India. During the year of its presidency, the republic held more than 80 events on a wide range of issues of regional and international politics. And the apotheosis of the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the Organization was the SCO summit, which was held on September 15-16, 2022 in Samarkand.

But first I would like to say a few words about the atmosphere in which this summit was held. It is no secret that since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has begun to change rapidly – these processes have continued in 2022. In addition, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis around Ukraine, unprecedented sanctions pressure on Russia from Western countries led by the United States have been added to them. No one will deny that today the world is really going through global changes, entering a new era of rapid development and large-scale transformations. Against this background, the modern system of international challenges and threats is becoming more complex, a dangerous degradation of the state of affairs in the world is observed, existing local conflicts and crises are aggravating and new ones are emerging. The January crisis in Kazakhstan only confirmed this fact.

The system of international relations that existed until recently is becoming a thing of the past, as are individual attempts by the United States to maintain a unipolar world. To make predictions about what the multipolar world will be like is, frankly, a thankless task. Only one thing is clear: the process of its crystallization will not be easy, perhaps even painful. One can only hope that the formation of a renewed system of international rules and institutions will take place without a global catastrophe.

The situation that has developed in the world today poses a number of issues, both current and strategic, for each country and international organizations. However, if the search for answers at the national level is mainly associated with the development of anti-crisis socio-economic measures, then at the regional level it is with the need to coordinate joint actions and develop a collective response to new challenges and threats that have arisen in connection with the crisis around Ukraine.

From a geostrategic point of view, the SCO member states are united by a common desire for independent, progressive development in the conditions of modern international realities, and the existing economic potential allows the Shanghai Nine to play the most active role in the international arena. In addition, the Organization is given special weight by the fact that two permanent members of the UN Security Council (China and Russia) and four of the nine nuclear powers (China, Russia, India and Pakistan) are members of the SCO. By the way, there are only three such states in NATO – the USA, Great Britain and France.

However, the time has come to talk in more detail about the summit of the leaders of the SCO member states, held in Samarkand. This Uzbek city, glorious for its centuries-old traditions, received the heads of state that now determine world politics. The leaders of a number of partner organizations, including the UN, the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, and others, also took part in the work of the summit.

It should be emphasized that the SCO summit in Samarkand was unique in its own way, since its decisions can largely determine the development of the situation in the world. First of all, important statements were made at it, which the US and the European Union will obviously not like, because the SCO is aimed at expansion and sets itself specific goals. The summit made it clear that today half of humanity is opposed to American hegemony in the modern world.

The summit also demonstrated the ongoing process of strengthening the multipolar world and the increased interest in the Organization from other countries. According to many experts, the SCO summit in Samarkand was a kind of verdict on the unipolar world. No wonder it is also called historical. And there is every reason for this, since he showed in what direction the new institutions of international cooperation will develop and what principles will determine the foundation of the future world order.

The contours of the new organization of powers that seek cooperation without the West demonstrated the composition, status and number of participants in the Samarkand summit. Recent moves with the admission of Iran to the SCO have significantly expanded the geography of coverage, and applications from countries such as Argentina demonstrate the potential of the Organization’s global interaction beyond Eurasia. According to analysts, the SCO will continue to expand through the countries of Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

As a result of the work, the SCO member countries approved the Samarkand Declaration. The document says that the member states of the Organization will contribute to “the expansion of the SCO and the deepening of international cooperation, which will serve to ensure security and stability in the region.” The countries that are members of the organization condemned the introduction of trade restrictions that threaten the global economy supported the increase in the number of transactions using national currencies. The leaders of the SCO states also approved a package of more than 40 documents on cooperation in various sectors.

The heads of the SCO countries also adopted the Comprehensive Action Plan for 2023-2027 for the implementation of the provisions of the Treaty on Long-term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation of the SCO Member States. This document, in particular, provides for coordinated steps to further deepen cooperation in the areas of politics and security, trade and the economy, culture and humanitarian ties.

The SCO summit in Samarkand showed that today the Organization is becoming an alternative for those states that are not satisfied with the approach and control of the West, primarily the United States. Today, the SCO is a platform where countries can discuss a variety of issues of interaction and development. According to the agreements reached and the vector of development of events, the summit in Samarkand can go down in history as the second Yalta, since it was attended by countries that decided to change their future, and hence the future of the whole world.

In conclusion, we note that in the future, the SCO should indeed become not only a powerful financial and economic pole of the future multipolar world, but also a serious political decision-making center, since the world needs a new economic and political ethics, and strict observance of international law.