Leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization gather in Uzbekistan

24 июня 2016

18 countries-members of the organization are a powerful economic bloc, where Belarus has risen to a new role with an observer status. In the future Belarus may qualify for membership in the SCO. This area is of particular interest for us, especially in view of its forthcoming expansion by the addition of such large countries like India and Pakistan. Iran will soon join the organization as well. This is a market with 45% of the world population.

Alexander Lukashenko met with Xi Jinping. The formula of relations between Belarus and China sounds as comprehensive strategic partnership. Alexander Lukashenko visited China eight times, Chinese leaders visited Belarus in their turn. As a result, cooperation is observed in almost all spheres. Tens of huge investment projects are being implemented. Thousands of new jobs and a private passenger car industry have been established. The first Belarusian communication satellite was launched into space from the Chinese Cosmodrome. China provides soft and comfortable loans to Belarus. The trade turnover in the last two decades increased a hundred times. Great Stone is under construction now.

Belarus is ready to become the western gate for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Alexander Lukashenko visited India twice. Last year the President of India came to Belarus for the first time. By 2020, the Heads of State outlined an ambitious turnover of a billion dollars. A perspective area of cooperation is the supply of BelAZ machinery for Indian coal companies. An agreement was signed on a joint assembly of tractors and buses in India. The next step is the production of combines.

The territory of the states-members of the SCO and of those who are willing to become a member of the organization is 60 percent of Eurasia and almost half the world's population. This is why the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is becoming a huge force. But the economic potential has not yet been achieved.

The final document of the meeting is the Tashkent Declaration. It sums up the results of the previous 15 years of work and specifies the plans for the future. Presidents have also approved the roadmap for the next 5 years to implement the strategy of the organization until 2025. One of its main points is the priority of economic and trade relations. The presidency in the association passed to Kazakhstan.

The difficult global economic situation is pushing countries to join forces not only bilaterally between two countries, but also as parts of integrations. The relations between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the EAEU are an example of such cooperation. Most of the continent gets a real opportunity to bring together the raw material resources, human capital, and a huge domestic market capacity.