SCO Summit 2022

It’s an organisation you may not have heard about, but it’s big.

It’s the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a conglomeration of China, India, Pakistan and Russia, along with the Central Asian nations Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan covering more than half the area of Eurasia, comprising  some 40% of the world’s population ,and a third of global GDP.

And it meets this weekend, in Samarkand, the capital of Uzbekistan.

Certainly, it is a meeting of significant leaders at a significant time, so what’s it all about?

This weekend’s 22nd leaders’ summit of the SCO will be the first face-to-face meeting of the group since the Covid pandemic disrupted the world.

The standout headline must surely be the first in-person meeting of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin since the Beijing Winter Olympics in February,  where they released details of their "no limits" partnership.

Russia invaded Ukraine shortly afterwards.

For Mr Putin especially, there has been a great deal of water under the bridge since then, for Mr Xi it is an important foreign excursion, his first for nearly three years.

He has also made a brief visit to Kazakhstan en route to the SCO meeting, talking up the considerable infrastructure spending by China as part of its "Belt and Road" global project.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, right, welcomes China’s President Xi Jinping at the airport in the capital Nur-Sultan. /photo Kazakhstan Presidential press office

China has spent hundreds of millions on oil refining, wind power, and transport infrastructure. It also assisted with Kazakhstan's auto industry, producing vehicles for companies like Kia, Hyundai and Chevrolet.

Kazakhstan is the largest land-locked country in the world, and with a major border with the Russian Federation, it is territory regarded by Moscow as very much within its sphere of influence. Mr Xi will be keen to emphasise the growing influence of China in the former Soviet republics.    

The Chinese leader will also meet Indian President Narendra Modi, with India due to take up the SOC Presidency following the meeting.

Registan Square in the Uzbek capital, Samarkand / photo SCO

For its part, current chair Uzbekistan has called for a plan for intraregional trade, which will include measures to eliminate trade barriers, align technical regulations and digitize customs services.

Uzbekistan has also attempted to engage with the Taliban regime in Kabul, and taken other initiatives including the adoption of a programme for industrial cooperation, the preparation of an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the tourism sector and a programme for infrastructure development across the SCO area.

And for Beijing the meeting is also very much about China engaging with its Central Asian neighbours, whose sometimes nervous leaders value a forum to engage publically with a rising power.

Many past gatherings of the SCO went largely unreported in the west, dismissed as a victory of propaganda over content held quietly somewhere in the “stans”.

Ukraine has changed that, and as the leaders come together this weekend it’s a snapshot of a political and geographical club to which the term “authoritarian” could be easily applied.  

Indian Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar signs final documents at a SOC Foreign Ministers meeting in July 2022/ photo SCO

India is the only democracy in the SCO, and this year also marks the entry of Iran to the grouping.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said "Iran's membership in the organisation is expedient and mutually beneficial."

"Iran, as an important country in the region, thanks to its energy resources, great economic potential and location along the route of the North-South transport corridor, has the potential to benefit the SCO," he said.

Mongolia, Afghanistan and Belarus have current observer status, and while Turkey, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal are current dialogue partners. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and  Qatar are also expected to be admitted to that group. 

The conference will conclude with the release of the “The Samarkand Declaration”, pulling together multiple new agreements and a roadmap on how the organisation plans to move forward.

-Asia Media Centre