Head of states of SCO gesturing

Shanghai Cooperation Organization is an organization which aims to further enhance political, economic and military cooperation in the Eurasian region. It was founded by six member states; People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
SCO is a successor organization of the “Shanghai Five”, which was founded in 1996 with five countries as its member states. Later on, in 2001, Uzbekistan was inducted into the organization and the organization was renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organization.  On the tenth of July, 2015, Pakistan and India were given full member status.

On 24th June 2016, Pakistan and India signed the Memorandum of obligations at Tashkent, starting the process of the formal entrance of both into the organization. The acceptance process will complete in 2017 in Astana, where both will be given formal full member status. Currently; China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and India are full member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization; Afghanistan, Belarus, Mongolia, and Iran are observer states Whereas Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey are dialogue partners.

The highest decision-making body of SCO is Council of Head of States; the second highest authority is of Heads of Government, followed by the Council of foreign ministers. The first two bodies hold annual meetings whereas foreign ministers meet regularly. The council of the head of governments approves the budget of the organization and foreign ministers discuss the international situation of SCO and its interaction with other organizations. The main agenda of the organization is to focus on the fight against three major evils; Terrorism, Extremist, and Separatism.

Geopolitical and Geostrategic importance of SCO for Pakistan

With the inclusion of India and Pakistan into SCO, it nearly covers half of the world population. This shows the prospects this organization presents as an economic market for the Pakistani products if utilized properly. China and Russia are two giants of this organization, of which the former is a global economic superpower whereas the latter is a global military power. Pakistan having friendly relations with China is already taking advantage of her economic might in different shapes but we can use SCO to further boost the already time-tested relations with China for the further economic benefit.

China under the auspicious of its “One belt, One road project” is already carrying out the completion of the CPEC through Pakistan with a huge investment of 46 billion dollars, which will pass through the same region in which the SCO countries lies but we also need to diversify our defense relations to limit our military dependence on America and for this Russian Federation can be a suitable option.

We should use SCO to reach out to Russia and some work has already been done in this regard with recent “Friendship exercise” with Russian forces in Pakistan. SCO has established an anti-terrorism authority called RATS (Regional anti-terrorism structure), which can be of great help to Pakistan in the wake of the threats that Pakistan faces from terrorism both in contexts of  Religious fanatics and ethnic separatists. The other major advantage that can be at the disposal of Pakistan is the energy resources that the Central Asians states have. Pakistan is facing a heavy shortage of energy and is severely hampering our economic progress; this energy shortage can be overcome if we carve out some sort of cooperation with SCO countries in this regard. Lastly, we can prove to be the gateway between Russian Federation, Central Asian states, and China.

The above discussion shows a number of opportunities it provides for the member states and especially for Pakistan but there are some hurdles which are keeping this organization in relatively weaker position compared to EU and NATO. The major reason is the soft Sino-Russian rivalry in the Central Asia. Russian being the successor state of USSR considers itself to be the dominant force in Central Asia but China is constantly threatening that by asserting its influence in these states. Another thing is the economic dominance of China which Russia considers threatening to itself as a leader of SCO.  Overall this organization can prove to be one of the success stories if focused properly by the member states.