Paired up with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit is in the doorway to greater cooperation opportunities and expected to foster regional peace and development.
The five-year-old BRI comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.
As the Belt and Road construction and the SCO cooperation enjoy highly overlapping geography and doctrinal similarities, the Silk Road Spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit has facilitated cooperation within the SCO framework and led to remarkable achievements.
Tajikistan, the country that welcomes Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday for an official visit as well as his attendance at the 17th SCO Council of Heads of Government, stands as a fine example of how SCO regional cooperation gets multiplied by the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
The Central Asian country benefits from cooperation with China in agriculture, energy, security and people-to-people exchanges. Major projects like thermal power plants, cotton processing mills and textile industrial park are improving the Tajik people's livelihood.
Besides trade, security and humanitarian cooperation, SCO countries including Tajikistan are also exploring new growth potentials such as scientific and technological innovation to find a fresh dynamic of sustainable development.
From resources development in Uzbekistan to cultural tourism industry and agriculture innovation park in Kazakhstan, numerous projects blossomed along the Silk Road and witnessed the Shanghai Spirit in the new era of SCO development toning in with the essence of the BRI construction.
Featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, the Shanghai Spirit was replenished at the Qingdao summit when Chinese President Xi Jinping offered China's insights on security, development, cooperation, civilization and global governance.
At the summit, the SCO countries agreed to make "building a community with a shared future for humanity" a common concept in the organization.
With an eye to political consensus and common interests, it is time that SCO countries shoulder the task to turn geopolitical virtues in the center of the Eurasian continent, as well as coordinated structure within the SCO framework, into a booster for cooperation, openness and inter-connectivity.
