The 16th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit slated on June 23-24 in Tashkent will be a highlight of Chinese President Xi Jinping's Eurasia tour, and will point out the direction of the bloc's future development.[Special coverage]
Since the founding of the SCO 15 years ago, security collaboration and economic cooperation have served as the "two wheels" of the bloc. How to make the two wheels to run more smoothly is the main theme of this year's summit.
Against the backdrop of a changing international situation, increasing geopolitical tensions and a rise in terrorism, separatism and extremism, the summit is expected to make concrete contribution to safeguarding regional stability and advance the sustainable development goals of SCO members, SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov said.
According to Andre Kazantsev, director of the Analytical Center at Russia's Moscow Institute of International Relations, the Islamic State (IS) has recruited a large number of people from this economically uneven area, and the possibility that terrorist activities will originate from Central Asian nations is on the rise.
Therefore, it is necessary for SCO members to enhance coordination to combat terrorism and safeguard regional security. Hopefully detailed security measures will be discussed and sealed at the Tashkent summit.
Furthermore, the economies of SCO member states are developing differently, yet they have all been feeling the chill of a global economic slowdown, and are in urgent need of cooperating with each other to emerge from the stagnation.
"China is an important impetus to the development of the SCO as well as the world," said Seylbek Musataev, a professor with Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. "Many SCO member states expect China to lead us out of the hot water at this summit."
As a response, China has proposed that SCO economies cooperate within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and to develop free trade areas. It has called on the the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICS Development Bank to support SCO projects.
The SCO is becoming a platform linking the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasia economic alliance. Therefore, China's Belt and Road Initiative is bound to create more development opportunities for SCO members and other relevant countries.
The Chinese side has also made a five-pronged proposal for SCO development, including strengthening political mutual trust, containing security risks, gradually expanding SCO membership and improving mutual understanding among the bloc's respective peoples.
At this summit, India and Pakistan are expected to join the SCO and expanding the bloc's circle of members. The addition of the two countries illustrates the attraction of the SCO's "Shanghai Spirit" of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of shared development.
