Shanghai Cooperation Organization's potential is growing Russian presidential envoy
Russian presidential envoy for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)'s affairs Vitaly Vorobyov has given an interview to Interfax special correspondent Yevgeny Yevsyutin in the run-up to the 6th SCO summit in Shanghai on June 15 Shanghai will host the 6th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) in mid-June. In what areas does Moscow believe the organization has the most substantial potential for development? - Over the years of its existence, the SCO has apparently been successful in passing the preparatory and organizational phase. Now it is becoming fully oriented toward attending the practical goals that were set at the time of its establishment. Moreover, the SCO has already made certain steps in this direction: it has adopted a number of important long-term programmatic documents, concluded a series of major multilateral agreements, and launched interaction mechanisms in many sectors in the political, economic and humanitarian areas. All these processes have been going simultaneously. There has been more progress in certain issues, and in others cooperation is only being arranged. Some problems were resolved quicker, and others still require more effort. I would like to point out that the SCO is based on the consensus principle at all levels. In other words, decisions are not made through voting, which rules out a situation when opinions and positions that some of its members might not like could be imposed on them. All the sovereign member-states are equal regardless of their 'weight category'. Therefore, it is characteristic for the SCO to move ahead at a pace that suits all its members at the given time. This style ensures, on the one hand, dynamism and progress, and on the other, stability in SCO activities. All areas of cooperation are equally important for Russia. Our country is interested in a stable, peaceful and friendly environment near its borders. The SCO's mechanisms enable it to resolve any problems within its jurisdiction in a constructive and calm manner, despite the cultural and civilizational diversity existing in it. Certain Western and Russian experts are viewing the SCO development as the formation of a military-political bloc alternative to NATO. But how true is this? What problems is the organization really focused on? - All the SCO's founding documents are open. I do not think you can find any specific signs of a military-political bloc in them even with a microscope. There is a political component in the SCO's activity, which plays the leading role. This is quite natural, since the SCO was designed exactly this way. Cooperation between the member-states' defense and other security agencies logically follows from the SCO goals stipulated in its Charter, which was adopted back in 2002. Nothing new has been added to it since then. How is interaction in opposing drug trafficking and terrorism developing within the SCO? How far has the organization moved in setting up a mechanism to respond to situations threatening stability and security in the region? What form could it eventually assume? - Countering the new challenges and threats, primarily terrorism, separatism, extremism and drug trafficking, were among the motives to set up the SCO. Unfortunately, these threats and challenges still remain quite tangible. Moreover, they are assuming more and more technologically sophisticated and large-scale nature, which calls for permanent analysis of the situation and appropriate practical conclusions. The SCO has no other choice but to build legal foundations for multilateral interaction in countering the new challenges and threats and improve coordination and interoperability of the resources that it uses, including the organization of exercises and the training of special personnel. But how else can an organization be efficient? The SCO chiefs of state agreed in Kazakhstan's capital Astana in the summer of 2005 to set up a system of measures and mechanisms to ensure joint operational response to situations threatening stability and security in the region. This will be a new major step in strengthening the consolidating foundations within the SCO and increasing its resources. What this system is going to be like and we are talking about an integrated notion will become clear upon the conclusion of the negotiations, which are proceeding in a good and concerned atmosphere. There has been much talk of late about the SCO expansion by granting the status of equal members to the observer countries, but the results of the ministerial meeting in Shanghai in mid-May showed that this will unlikely happen in the near future. Nevertheless, the ministers in Shanghai spoke in favor of intensifying cooperation with the observers. What steps could be taken in this direction? - The SCO is approaching its five-year anniversary not only as a mature but also quite a well-known and authoritative organization. The Tashkent 2004 initiative on setting up a partner network of organizations acting in Asia was perceived quite enthusiastically. The SCO is also actively concluding memoranda on cooperation with other associations concerned. A club of observers in the SCO is also being put together and currently includes India, Iran, Mongolia, and Pakistan. In addition, an SCO-Afghanistan contact group has started its activity. The SCO understands the desire of a number of countries to join it as observers or even become its full members. The SCO is, however, quite a young organization. It will consider such applications as far as it gains interaction experience with the current observers. In addition, there is a need to draw up a number of documents that would better regulate this important aspect in the SCO activity. As for the admittance of new members, the SCO does not yet have essential legal procedures. Apparently there is a need to address this problem now. There has been much controversy in the Western countries about the reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to take part in the Shanghai summit. Is there any difference between the SCO's plans for interaction with Iran and such plans regarding the other observers, i.e. Mongolia, India and Pakistan? - The plan is to invite the leaders of the observer states, Afghanistan, and the international organizations with which the SCO formally maintains cooperative relations. Iran became an observer in the SCO together with India and Pakistan in 2005. Its status does not differ from that of the other observers. The SCO is developing a legal basis for its representative to monitor elections and referenda in its member states. Does this mean that the organization is trying to develop a mechanism to oppose the threat of so-called colored revolutions in the region? - This does not have anything to do with the colored revolutions. Everything is much simpler than that. SCO representatives have monitored various elections for several years. But the organization still does not have a document regulating this process, although election monitoring is quite a complicated process in organizational, political, and financial terms. In developing a specific document to this end, the SCO has built it on many of the existing standards that have proven their efficiency. What do you think are prospects for economic cooperation within the SCO? What decisions could be made at the summit in Shanghai to develop trade and economic cooperation? What place do energy issues occupy in the SCO activity? - If we say that the political component plays the leading role in the SCO activity, then the economic dimension, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said at one of the earlier SCO summits, is its consolidating basis. The SCO's prospects in this regard were outlined in the long-term program of multilateral trade and economic cooperation designed for the period up to 2020. Energy and transportation infrastructure issues have been given priority in that program. It is too early to say now what projects the SCO could be developing in the future, and working groups are conducting consultations on this now. By the way, there could be bilateral joint entities that could at the same time be viewed as multilateral in the sense that their products are consumed by groups of countries. It is expected that the formation of the SCO Business Council and an inter-bank association would boost the work on specific projects. The establishment of the Scientific Forum will help experts to voice their opinions more clearly and distinctly, as the agendas of conferences and seminars within the SCO could be unlimited. I would like to note that the SCO has closely approached the development of active interaction in the area of humanities. On the same days at the end of April, Beijing hosted a meeting of the defense ministers, while Tashkent was a venue of a meeting between the culture ministers. Both meetings proved to be highly productive. The countries are also planning to develop cooperation in the education area now. On the whole, the SCO is approaching its five-year anniversary as a working and dynamic association, whose potential is only beginning to transpire. Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM
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