On June 5-6, 2024, Tashkent hosts the XIX meeting of the SCO Forum under the chairmanship of the Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is attended by the BISR delegation headed by Deputy Director Vitaly Stakhovsky.
For reference:
The SCO Forum was established in Moscow in May 2006 as a public consultation and expert mechanism implementing scientific study of political initiatives and decisions of the Heads of Member States adopted and approved at annual summits. BISR has been participating in its work as an observer since 2020.
This year's meeting is being held under the slogan: "The role of the SCO in the new conditions: joining forces to ensure universal security, stability and prosperity." This event in the BISR international calendar is especially significant given the upcoming receipt by our country of the status of an official member of this international association at Astana Heads of States Summit in July.
The event is to be attended by representatives of the leadership of the SCO RATS Secretariat and Executive Committee, heads and experts of the SCO National Research Centers from India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as analysts from Azerbaijan and Belarus.
A broad and thorough exchange of views and discussion on the following agenda are planned during the meeting:
- priority areas of cooperation within the SCO: full implementation of untapped opportunities;
- improving the SCO effectiveness at the current stage of development;
- further prospects for improving the SCO Forum activities.
The program includes a presentation by Vitaly Stakhovsky themed "Untapped opportunities as a potential for increasing the SCO effectiveness: an expert view from Belarus."
The sidelines of the event plan a number of bilateral meetings with foreign partners during which, among others, the issue of full-scale BISR accession to the SCO Forum in the status of a National Research Center will be elaborated.
For reference:
The Regulations provide that the Forum consists of one reputable scientific institution from each Member State, which has the status of the SCO National Research Center, assigned in accordance with internal legal procedures.
The meeting will end with the signing of the final Minutes, as well as the ceremony of handing over the SCO Forum chairmanship (for the period 2024-2025) to the next chairman – the Indian Council for World Affairs.
BISR Deputy Director Vitaly Stakhovsky:
Participation in the Tashkent meeting of the SCO Forum is a landmark event for us given the upcoming receipt by the Republic of Belarus of the status of an official member of this international association at Astana Heads of States Summit in July.
Today, the SCO is significantly different from the organization that was created at the dawn of the 21st century. In a short period by historical standards, it has become one of the pillars of new international relations.
The "Shanghai spirit" is firmly entrenched in the political lexicon as a synonym for trust and coordination of a new quality. Thus, today the SCO possesses all signs of a system-forming core of true multipolarity, based on the principle of confidence, negotiability, and moving forward.
Our country has consistently and responsibly passed all stages of building relations with the SCO and, after fully joining the Shanghai family, is ready to actively engage in work in all dimensions, offering its industrial, scientific, transit and transport potential, accumulated peacekeeping experience, and integration competencies.
Further improvement of the organization's activities is an important step in effectively responding to new challenges and adapting it to modern realities. In addition, as a new type of international organization, the SCO should not only adapt to the changing world, related challenges and threats, but also try to look beyond the horizon of current and future events and trends.
Associations that actively shape the development agenda have an advantage. That is why it is so important to complete the work and adopt a new SCO Development Strategy until 2035.
We believe that this document should first of all provide for the completion of institutional and managerial reform, mechanisms for practical interaction and implementation of existing agreements of the Member States, and opportunities to find the most effective model of trade and economic cooperation. At the same time, given the global crisis of confidence, it is critically important to put aside any bilateral problems and contradictions in joint work to strengthen the SCO's potential.
Being in Uzbekistan, the heart of Central Asia, it is worth noting the political importance of this region as the geopolitical core of Greater Eurasia and the SCO as a whole. It is also necessary to take into account the active promotion by the collective West of its counter-strategies here. The current situation requires the SCO to take effective joint response steps to prevent crisis situations, including through expert communities.
