The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s anniversary summit is taking place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan at a time when the contours of the new global economy are increasingly aligned with Eurasia and the demand for regional cooperation. Today, the SCO is the largest regional platform, bringing together states that are home to half the world’s population. The combined GDP of the member states accounts for more than a third of global gross domestic product, making the organisation one of the most influential centres in the emerging multipolar world.
As part of the SCO summit in Bishkek, it is planned that over 20 documents will be signed between the member states on a range of issues: from ensuring regional security to regulating artificial intelligence and developing more integrated logistics and infrastructure across Eurasia.
However, the effectiveness of the SCO as a forum is determined not so much by formal procedures as by its ability to keep countries with differing foreign policy interests at the negotiating table.
Moscow plays a particular role in this, often serving as a ‘bridge’ in the dialogue between Beijing and New Delhi. Vladimir Putin held nine bilateral meetings, including talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At a time when the established institutions of global governance are failing, the SCO is becoming one of Russia’s key pillars in building a new architecture of international relations, where the emphasis is shifting from bloc confrontation to the coordination of the interests of sovereign states.
Dmitry Zaviryukhin, political scientist and member of the ‘Digoria’ Expert Club, writing exclusively for News Front
