Indian Council of World Affairs

Respected participants of the Conference!

First of all, let me express my gratitude to the Indian partners who organized this conference within the framework of their chairmanship in the SCO. The fact that it has attracted serious interest in the Organization's space is evidenced by the representative and authoritative composition of experts and political scientists taking part in it in various formats.

The theme of the conference - "Reconnect-rejuvenation" - seems to be deeply relevant and in demand. And, probably, there is a well-known symbolism in the fact that it takes place in the first month of spring, when nature wakes up from hibernation, shakes off last year's husk and is covered with new, young foliage.

Unfortunately, it is not yet necessary to talk about signs of the coming spring in geopolitical life. Rather, on the contrary: clouds continue to thicken in international life, polar cold prevails in interstate relations, and in some cases ice storms rage. The human community has entered a period of global transformation, during which a new multipolar world order is crystallizing. He is born hard, figuratively speaking, "in pain." The world is being shaken in the full sense of the word by tectonic tremors splitting the international community, interstate relations are rapidly deteriorating, the architecture of the global world order with the UN at its head, formed after the Second World War, is being undermined by the entire system of international law, attempts to replace it with some "rules" are being intensified. It is our common responsibility and duty to stop these destructive processes, to prevent the international situation from passing the "point of no return", to take the world away from the fatal line.

The SCO was initially created with strictly creative, life-affirming goals. As stated in the 2001 Shanghai Declaration on the Establishment of the SCO, the goals of the organization are to strengthen mutual trust, friendship, and good-neighborliness between the member states; to encourage effective cooperation in political, trade and economic, scientific and technological, cultural, educational, energy, transport, environmental, and other spheres; to work together to maintain and ensure peace, security, and stability in the region, to create new democratic, just, and rational politics. These goals are enshrined in international treaty form in the Charter, or charter, of the SCO, which, I recall, is registered with the UN Secretariat.

The SCO genotype is devoid of confrontational genes. If there is anything that the Organization is struggling with, it is threats common not only to its member states, but to the entire international community. The statutory documents of the SCO do not contain mutual obligations for joint defense against external aggression. The only obligation is that the 2007 Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the SCO member-states allows for consultations within the Organization in case of a situation that endangers the security of one of the parties to the treaty.

In the 20 years of its existence, the Organization has evolved from a coordination and dialogue mechanism focused mainly on Central Asia into a major transregional association that plays a systemic role not only in Eurasian affairs, but also at the global level. In a number of areas the SCO is at the head of international efforts to form and introduce norms of responsible behavior that meet mutual interests in vitally important areas. I will single out, first of all, ensuring international information security and combating extremism.

The SCO has successfully met the challenge of protecting member states from the threat of terrorism, separatism and extremism. The SCO's regional anti-terrorist structure has become an effective instrument in suppressing separatist and fundamentalist gangs that have raised their heads in some member states. A reliable barrier is put up against drug trafficking - as a result of the SCO Anti-Drug Strategy implementation, up to 40% of opium-group drugs intercepted in the whole Eurasian space are withdrawn from illegal circulation.

The key principle of "Shanghai spirit" is embodied in practice - complete equality and mutual respect. In an organization that unites states that are fundamentally different in their financial and economic potential and political tradition, there are no signs of neglecting someone else's point of view, pressure, or division into "leaders" and "wingnuts". The SCO provides a comfortable platform where each country can introduce others to its history, culture, social and ethical philosophy, and promote its worldview and approaches. The Treaty on Long-term Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation signed in 2007 marked the establishment of a new quality of relations between the SCO member states based on the principles of "Shanghai Spirit".

The appropriate prerequisites for reaching a fundamentally new level of economic interaction have been created. There are grounds to expect a qualitative breakthrough in this area, not only in traditional areas, but also in innovative areas such as "green" energy, digital economy, etc.

In general, it is difficult to name any component of interpersonal communication in which the SCO has not established cooperation or contacts: science and technology, trade and investment, culture and art, health and sports, youth and women's exchanges, exhibitions, festivals, etc.

Finally, the SCO has stood the test of the coronavirus - the member states have shown a high level of solidarity and mutual assistance, and, unlike participants in some other multilateral structures, have not slipped into the "save yourselves as you can" principle.

Today the SCO can, without exaggeration, be called a center of attraction for a growing number of states from various regions. In the near future, the number of member states will increase to ten, and the number of SCO partner states in the dialogue will come close to fifteen. It is obvious that the countries wishing to join the SCO family do not want to live in a confrontational system of coordinates, do not want to be commanded or have social and political standards and models alien to their cultural and civilizational traditions imposed on them. In other words, the principles and norms, the very paradigm of life advocated by the SCO, are widely in demand in the international arena. Already now the Organization covers about a quarter of the Earth's land surface, and its population reaches almost half of humankind. In this vast territory a positive alternative to the crisis and conflict approaches is being formed.

Dear participants!

We live in a time of historical change. Everything is changing - from climate to geopolitical configuration. The SCO is a young, living, developing and future-oriented body. The ranks of its member states are growing, its agenda is steadily expanding, and its responsibility for the fate of the region and the world is increasing accordingly. At a meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States last September in the ancient city of Samarkand, it was decided to begin modernizing the Organization in order to adapt it to the changing international realities. We are not talking about some radical reformatting of the SCO or its transformation into some fundamentally different association in terms of its objectives and principles. What is meant here is a careful fine-tuning of its executive mechanisms in the interests of further improving the effectiveness and capacity of the Organization to meet the challenges it faces. Most importantly, the norms and values of the Shanghai Spirit, the time-tested political, moral and ethical foundation of SCO, remain absolutely unchanged.

Thank you for your attention.

*****